Po-Han Chen

Concordia University Montreal · Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Developing technology for building inspections is a growing challenge in the pursuit of efficient building response and recovery. Traditional building inspection methods can be time-consuming and resource intensive, leading to messy data management, especially in large-scale disasters. In order to address these challenges, this study develops a clo...

Excessive energy consumption is a crucial global issue nowadays and lighting contributes a lot to daily energy consumption, especially that in the office. Hence, an efficient and effective method for evaluating office lighting design is necessary for saving energy in office lighting. Presently, there are two common issues associated with lighting d...

Background: Precarious employment is a major determinant of mental health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic and development of digital economic platforms have enhanced the ratio of precarious employment relationship. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among burnout, job dissatisfaction, psychosocial work conditions and minor menta...

Stakeholders' participation is an essential factor for the promotion of green building (GB) industry and various research studies have been conducted in this area. This paper visually analyzes the literatures on stakeholders’ studies of green buildings (GBs) from 2007 to 2021 with the assistance of CiteSpace, HistCite, and VOSviewer, to grasp prese...

In the post-disaster recovery and reconstruction phase, building assessment is a very important first step in the process of repairing damaged buildings. In practices, the building assessment still needs building visual inspection and manual analysis which requires a lot of energy and time. Various emerging technologies in the construction sector t...

Two aryl amino borinium cations derived from Cl(Mes)B-NR 2 (NR 2 = TMP, HMDS) faced divergent outcomes. As the HMDS substituted one underwent methyl migration from silicon to boron transforming the putative...

This paper aims to identify the necessity of legalization on the certification of competency of skilled workers in BIM practice in domestic and regional. Regionally, the engineer qualification recognizing is one of the eight professional qualification recognition schemes in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (collectively referred to as “AS...

Concrete, the second most consumed material on earth after water, is considered as the backbone of modern construction. Excess or shortage in concrete supply may lead to wastage of material, time, and cost in a construction pro- ject. At present, ready-mixed concrete is widely used in the construction industry, and it is generally supplied to const...

Diaphragm wall was adopted for the subsurface excavation for LG06 underground station, one of the Wanda line stations in Taipei MRT, and it encountered many geological challenges during construction. The geological conditions in this zone are mostly clay and hard rock layer. The unconfined compression strengths of the extremely hard rock samples we...

An innovative method for utilizing synthetic calcium fluoride (CaF2), recovered from fluoride-containing semiconductor wastewater, and waste sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to produce hydrofluoric acid (HF) was investigated. The research was set to study the low-temperature production of HF via reaction of synthetic CaF2 and waste H2SO4. The impact of four f...

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many parts of the world have fallen into deep recession. Governments in every country have adopted various measures to restrict social gatherings due to the need to control the pandemic. This includes restrictions on activities in homes and communities. Fundamentally, epidemic prevention relies on the measures indivi...

Extended Reality (XR) technologies such as AR, VR and MR have influenced many industries, including architecture. Even though they are all capable of creating immersive digital worlds, the only one capable of merging the real world with a holographic 3D modelby letting the user interact intuitively and naturally with the project is MR. In this pape...

Use of urban sludge, hospital sludge, and aquatic product sludge as a biochar adsorbent from wastewater treatment plants was investigated. Microwave carbonization was used to carbonize the sludge and then chemically activated at high temperatures to increase porosity and surface area. Effective of arsenic adsorption in water presents a newly design...

In this paper, with the motivation of “green” and “sustainability” for bridge projects, ten key indicators were selected to establish a reliable and applicable sustainability assessment system. It is also expecting the civil infrastructure to be developed more ecologically, environmentally, and friendly by applying the proposed assessment system. T...

Because of Taiwan’s specific geographical location, disastrous weather phenomena such as typhoons, extreme rainfall, flooding, and regional flooding occur frequently, resulting in devastating casualties and property loss. The losses caused by flooding are NT$5.5 billion per year. This study used insurance claims data on flood damage in Taiwan’s tra...

White building components, whether decorative or the overall structure, are susceptible to extreme weathering conditions, which affect the durability of the building’s external surface. In particular, white natural stone materials can provide buildings with beauty, durability, and sustainability, but this beauty is affected by key factors determini...

On September 21, 1999, at 1:47 a.m., Taiwan was shaken by a magnitude 7.3 Chi-Chi earthquake, the most severe one on this island in the past 100 years. The National Chi Nan University (NCNU), located in Puli, Nantou County in central Taiwan, suffered a significant landslide because it is in the worst-hit location and with the worst geological struc...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established in 1967 to promote the integration and creation of new opportunities for citizens of ASEAN member countries. ASEAN member countries have signed mutual recognition agreements on services (including services in the construction industry) since 2005 to facilitate the movement of human...

The application of building information modeling (BIM) in the Vietnamese construction industry is still in its early stage, both in perception and practice. This leads to a necessity of an effective legal system and standards for BIM implementation. In this study, a systematic literature review was conducted, including relevant references from jour...

As a developing country, Indonesia have strong demand for electricity. However, Indonesia government have limited funding capability to meet this demand. Consequently, private investment is needed to fill in the funding gap. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is the type of contract where the government purchase electricity at agreed price from private...

Purpose In the process of undertaking overseas construction projects, relational governance has become indispensable for project stakeholders. This study examines how relational governance influences contractors' adaptability to foreign situations and whether such associations are positively moderated by international environmental complexity. Des...

The Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) Project is the fourth nuclear power plant project in Taiwan, with two sets of 1,350 MW Advanced Boiling Water Reactors designed by General Electric Company (GE). This project, with a planned construction duration of six years, was extended to seventeen years due to political issues, protests, and other interfe...

An innovative method for utilizing synthetic calcium fluoride (CaF 2 ), recovered from fluoride-containing semiconductor wastewater, and waste sulfuric acid (H 2 SO 4 ) to produce hydrofluoric acid (HF) was investigated. The research was set to study the low-temperature production of HF via the reaction of synthetic CaF 2 and waste H 2 SO 4 . The i...

Apart from architectural design, the application of suitable materials for the building façade is an indispensable element in architectural aesthetics. Here, we focus on the issue of changes in the appearance of white marble architecture with geographical environment and climate changes around the world by considering the durability of the façade m...

This study investigated the correlation between workplace justice and self-reported occupational accidents among employees of construction industry in Taiwan, and data from a national survey of employees in 2013 was analyzed. This study sampled a total of 1,543 employees age 25 to 65 in the construction industry, among whom 1,379 were men and 164 w...

In 1988, when the idea of economic liberalism was spreading across nations, the United Kingdom opened an electricity market. Soon, to increase the operational efficiency, other countries followed suit and gradually induced free competition to the electricity market. The reform aims to liberalize electric power industry, mainly features a vertical i...

It is claimed that Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been adopted in the construction industry in Vietnam since early 2000. However, in practice, this proves not to be the case, particularly in the context of construction projects funded with state-managed capital. Considering that such funding accounts for the largest market share in constr...

In Taiwan, the Dajia River is one of the most important rivers that provides hydroelectric energy. A couple of well-operated hydropower stations have been placed in different sections of this river for several decades. The 921 earthquake that hit central Taiwan in 2000 and Typhoon Toraji that attacked this area in 2001 caused severe damage to almos...

With the planning and progress of the construction of the trans-Eurasian high-speed rail (HSR) network, it becomes an important issue for Chinese contractors to enter the European HSR market. Facing the world’s most competitive contractors and their high technology levels, Chinese contractors will need to know their advantages and disadvantages, so...

Green roofs not only improve architectural aesthetics but also help with sustainable development of urban areas. Since modern cities lack green areas, green roofs have been widely used in recent years. This paper is focused on the thermal properties of green roofs and development of a finite element analysis model for the improvement of indoor ther...

In the process of water treatment adsorption has been proved to be the best, because of its significant advantages. It is recognized that recycling and reuse of waste can result in significant savings in materials cost. In this research, the adsorption of organic and inorganic arsenic using sludge biochar (SBC) made from urban sludge were analyzed....

In the past decade, many efforts have been devoted to exploring the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for Green Building (GB) projects. However, there is absence of a systematic review exploring these studies. Therefore, the paper presents a comprehensive review of publications from 2005 to 2018 on CSFs for GB projects. The results indicate there is...

Sustainability of infrastructure has recently been recognized as an important issue for civil engineering projects, not only in the design phase, but also in the construction phase. In this paper, we discuss the sustainability measures taken for the Suhua Highway Improvement Project. This highway is located in eastern Taiwan, running in a north–sou...

Selection of construction material sources is an important issue in construction supply chain management. This affects not only the shipping cost and schedule of a construction project, but also its environmental impact. However, material delivery cost and time from the source location to the job site concerning sustainability may not be easily est...

The Ankeng Light Rail Metro System (ALRMS) is a Design-Build (DB) construction project located in New Taipei City. The Anhsin Bridge (AB) is one of the major parts of ALRMS. The original concept from the client, the Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DRTS), New Taipei City Government, was to design Anhsin Bridge as a steel arch bridge, which inev...

Building Information Modeling (BIM) promises a lot of potentially radical benefits when we integrate it into the construction project. However, there is significant evidence suggests that certain benefits of innovations such as BIM only become realizable when the BIM contract is clear and implementable from early agreement of participants. Well kno...

With the active support of the national policy “One Belt and One Road” Initiative, Chinese contractors seized this historic opportunity to accelerate strategic globalization, and they gradually stood out in international construction projects owing to their low-cost advantage. However, despite China having large-scale contractors and wide-range bus...

Digital image processing has been applied to the assessment of steel bridge coating quality since the late 1990s. Most previously developed methods cluster rust images into two or three groups before calculating the rust percentage. Since two- or three-group clustering might not properly reflect the rust intensity or rusting severity on a rust imag...

A large amount of calcium fluoride sludge is generated by the semiconductor industry every year. It also requires a high amount of fuel consumption using rotor concentrators and thermal oxidizers to treat VOCs. The mesoporous adsorbent prepared by calcium fluoride sludge was used for VOCs treatment. The semiconductor industry employs HMDS to promot...

Taiwan is among the few countries that have a high density of high-tech facilities in the world, and the high-tech industry accounts for a large proportion of the annual output value of the global high-tech industry. During the construction period, the property loss of high-tech facilities is the issue of most concerned for the owners, investors, a...

Currently, privatized state-owned Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has a monopoly over energy production and vertically integrates the electricity market in Taiwan. Because of the geographical environments, economies of scales, social structures, and diverse political ideologies in Taiwan, the electricity market exhibits unique characteristics. To m...

In green buildings design and construction, evaluating the sustainable effects of site location and transportation to the ecosystem and human life is a critical and difficult task. Works regarding these matters require experience, time, labor, and manual calculations. In recent years, many studies have been conducted to enhance the application of B...

Green building assessment methods, which play an essential role in promoting the development of green buildings, have attracted much attention in recent years. Many studies have been conducted on the development of new assessment methods and improvement of existing ones through comparative analysis. However, there is no comprehensive study that exp...

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is one of the most popular and globally recognized green building standards. In LEED, evaluating the sustainable effects of site location and transportation to the ecosystem and human life is a critical and difficult task. Credits regarding these matters require experience, time, labor, and manua...

Credit enhancement is absolutely essential for financing Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects in Asia particularly for countries whose sovereign credit rating is on non-investment grade and foreign investment is difficult to achieve. In IPP project, due to lots of agreements among varies parties, it is hard to clearly visualize the roles of th...

Public and private parties give a number of guarantees and commitments in the form of credit enhancement for successful investment and implementation of independent power producer (IPP) projects in Asia. A research is thus conducted to find the suitable credit enhancement factors for these projects. From 27 out of 28 credit enhancement factors that...

Green Building (GB) has attracted more attention in recent years and many studies have been conducted in project delivery of GB. In Singapore, the compulsory requirement of Green Mark, one certification for GB, drives the rapid development of GB Market. The purpose of this research is to identify the critical resources and capabilities of design fi...

Hospitals consume large amounts of energy due to its operation characteristic. The HVAC system designed in hospital buildings runs 24 hours and has special air requirements. This study aims to evaluate the energy-saving efficiency of HVAC system by studying two Taiwan's green hospital buildings. Results show 40% energy saving efficiency based on in...

Construction projects are becoming progressively larger and more complex in terms of physical size and cost. Building information modeling (BIM) is being regarded as a revolutionary change for managing the entire lifecycle of a construction project. However, the information provided by BIM cannot fulfill the requirements of on-site project scheduli...

Most acquired steel bridge coating images are classified into two groups, defect and non-defect, by naked eyes or using the method reported in Lee's work [18]. Lee's method works effectively with blue-paint-coated steel bridge images in the State of Indiana, U.S.A. However, its effect on other coating colors or in some particular conditions, such a...

The global climate has changed dramatically in recent years. In order to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, green building has become a popular research topic worldwide. From the perspective of building lifecycle, the energy consumption in the operation phase accounts for the largest proportion of the entire lifecycle cost. Although the initial...

Green Building involves many parties and has attracted attention recently. In this paper, the main external actors for Green Building were explored based on literature review. Then, a structured questionnaire was developed to facilitate systematic data collection. Finally, a stepwise multiple regression analysis was applied and "clients," "governme...

One of the main reasons for the success of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects is the creation of separate commercial venture named ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ (SPV). SPV provides a good framework for raising funds, linking participants legally and assuring supply, production and marketing of products. SPV brings together various parties like l...

Computerized methods have been used for structure health monitoring and defect recognition in the civil engineering field for many years. However, there are still non-uniform illumination problems that require more research efforts to resolve.In view of this, a new support-vector-machine-based rust assessment approach (SVMRA) is developed in this r...

Intelligent computerized system can analyze and process vast amounts of data instantaneously in the civil engineering domain recently. However, most of previously developed image assessment methods for steel bridge rust inspection could not directly deal with acquired images. The acquired images should be firstly classified into two groups, non-def...

In recent years, greater environmental awareness had induced the managers of building projects to “go green,” and several studies have been conducted on the project delivery of green building. However, there is no comprehensive study that explores the important project management factors from the perspective of architectural, engineering, and const...

In public-private partnership projects (PPP), the relationships between the participants are established through a variety of contractual agreements between financiers, government, contractors, operators and customers. Raising funds, linking various participants legally and financially, ensuring supply, and producing and marketing products depend o...

The development of digital image recognition techniques has contributed to increased precision in pattern recognition and led to numerous applications in industries. In September 1999, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) first tried out digital image recognition techniques to steel bridge coating assessment. The purpose of this tryout...

To date, few construction methods or models in the literature have discussed about helping the project managers decide the near-optimum distributions of manpower, material, equipment and space according to their project objectives and project constraints. Thus, the traditional scheduling methods or models often result in a “seat-of-the-pants” style...

One of the traditional methods to assess the quality of the coating on the steel bridge surface is calculating the ratio of rust to the total area of coated surface. In North America, digital image processing has been applied on quality assessment of steel bridge coating since late 1990s due to the difficulty of rust area quantification by human vi...

In the late 1990s, image processing was first applied to steel bridge coating assessment in the United States. Yet, there has not been any robust method that could solve nonuniform illumination problems to date. In this regard, this paper aims to develop an approach that handles nonuniform illumination in rust image recognition. The proposed approa...

Image recognition methods have been applied to infrastructure surface coating assessment for more than a decade. However, non-uniform illumination, such as shades and highlights, is still a big challenge to date. To tackle the non-uniform illumination problem in infrastructure surface coating assessment, the BEMD-Morphology Approach (BMA) is propos...

One of the main reasons for the success of public private partnership (PPP) projects is the creation of a separate commercial venture named “Special Purpose Vehicle” (SPV). SPV provides a good framework for raising funds, linking participants legally and assuring supply, production and marketing of products. SPV brings together various parties like...

Image processing has been used for assessment of infrastructure surface coating conditions for years. In North America, civil engineers have utilized image recognition for steel bridge coating inspection since late 1990s. However, there is still no robust method to overcome the non-uniform illumination problem for infrastructure surface coating def...

Evacuation in an emergency is always an important issue for shopping malls, subway stations and other populous indoor places. The purpose of evacuation is to evacuate people from the danger zone through exits within the shortest possible time. To help evacuation missions to be carried out efficiently and effectively by rescuers, a fast evacuation a...

Four-dimensional models, which are 3D models with an added dimension to represent schedule information, have become an important tool in representing construction processes. These models usually rely on colors to represent the different construction states, such that when an ideal color scheme is used, engineers are able to understand the model and...

In a construction project, cost and schedule data are closely related to each other. However, due to the differences in the breakdown structures to which cost and schedule may belong, some methods that could quantitatively evaluate cost–schedule relationship are required. To help establish the relationship between cost and schedule, new base matric...

Across nations and industries, numerous changes are taking place due to globalization. Naturally, the effects are channelled back to the academic world and prominently felt at the level of higher learning in view of its constant contact with the industries. Universities and institutions have to reassess the adequacy of their existing curricula in f...

This paper presents the implementation of an Industry Foundation Class-based (IFC-based) information server for web-enabled collaborative building design between the architect and structural engineer. In this research, the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard is employed to build the framework of a design information server; the web...

Digital image recognition methods are now being utilized for steel bridge painting surface assessment. Through the use of digital image processing methods, the rust percentage on steel bridge surfaces can be objectively computed. The rust percentage may be crucial for the successful implementation of steel bridge painting warranty contracting since...

Finding the shortest path between any two nodes in a network is a classical problem in a number of research areas. Although some general shortest path algorithms have already been developed, such as Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm, in some situations, their computation complexity is too high to be of any practical use. In some real-time computat...

In construction scheduling, problems can arise when each activity can be started at different time points and the resources needed by the activities are limited. Moreover, activities have required conditions to be met, such as precedence relationships, resource demands, etc. To resolve these problems, a two-phase GA (genetic algorithms) model is pr...

Disclosing explicit knowledge about a domain is the preliminary requirement for the development of generic product models or data models in this domain. Quite a few process and information modeling methods have been developed, or are under development during the past years. However, these methods and tools are not completely compatible with each ot...

This paper presents the findings from the collaborative research project between nanyang technological university and singapore institute of manufacturing technology which aims to explore the integration and interoperability between structural design and architectural design applications based on ifc standards and product model. industry foundation...

Enabling the information interoperability among AEC product lifecycle processes is identified as an emerging demand from the AEC industry. The IFC (Industry Foundation Class) technology provides standardized definitions for the development of lifecycle information models and unified exchange mechanisms to facilitate the software interoperability an...

Digital image recognition has been experimented for steel bridge painting assessment by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) in September 1999. Although the application was successfully carried out as a whole, there are still some minor problems left to be improved. Nonuniform illumination is one of the problems that affect the accuracy...

Recently, digital image recognition has been applied to steel bridge coating assessment. However, non-uniform illumination is always a problem and affects the accuracy of processed results. In order to resolve the recognition problems arising from non-uniformly illuminated images, the neuro-fuzzy recognition approach (NFRA) is proposed. NFRA segmen...

Digital image recognition has been broadly utilized in different engineering disciplines; in civil engineering, it has been used experimentally in the inspection of steel bridge coatings and underground sewer systems. The multiresolution pattern classification (MPC) method is an image-recognition technique that extracts features from an image and c...