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Fuzzy Assessment of Factors Influencing Quality Level of Highway Projects

Received: 11 July 2016    Accepted: 15 August 2016    Published: 26 September 2016
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Abstract

A construction project such as highway comprises two distinct phases: preconstruction and construction. During these phases several factors are particularly noteworthy because of their significant impacts on the quality. As a result, the construction projects may be exposed to quality shortfalls. This paper aims at identifying the factors that may affect the quality of highway infrastructure projects in Egypt and determining their effectiveness degree through the application of fuzzy triangular approach. Using a detailed literature review, 39 factors have been identified to have an effect on the quality of the highway projects. A Pareto analysis shows that the first thirty factors contribute 80.249% of the weight of all the factors. The analysis of the collected questionnaires as perceived by the contracting engineers using the fuzzy approach reveals that availability of experienced staff in the owner’s and contractor’s teams during the project execution, asphalt quality and type used in the construction process, availability of the specified materials quality, pavement is not designed according to regional conditions (e.g. soil type -temperature - traffic volume) and design errors arising from inadequate engineer assumptions and inaccurate data are the major causal factors affecting the quality of the highway construction projects in Egypt.

Published in International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11
Page(s) 6-14
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fuzzy Approach, Quality, Highway Construction Projects, Management, Questionnaire Survey

References
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[2] J. A. Deacon, C. Monismith, J. Harvey, and L. Popescu, "Pay factors for asphalt-concrete construction: effect of construction quality on agency costs," Technical Memorandum, TM-UCB-PRC-2001-1, Pavement Research Center, Institute of Transportation Studies, 2001, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
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[6] H. F. Thurner, "Quality assurance and self-control in road construction, advanced measurement technology." Technical Paper, Geodynamic AB, Stockholm, 2001, Sweden, No. 11, 1-10.
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[11] I. Bogardi, and A. Bardossy, "Regional management of an aquifer for mining under fuzzy environmental objectives," Water Resources Research, 1983, Vol. 19, No. 6, 1394-1402.
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[14] M. Kantardzic, "Data mining: concepts, models, methods and algorithms.," 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2011, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.
[15] A. O. Omole," Causes of the high cost of building and civil engineering construction in Nigeria." The Nigerian Quantity Surveyor, 1986, (6) 1-2.
[16] K. N. Jha, and K. C. Iyer, "Critical factors affecting quality performance in construction projects," Total Quality Management and Business Excellence Journal, 2006, Vol. 17, No. 9, 1155-1170.
[17] M. Barnes, "Construction project management," International Journal of Project Management, 1988, Vol. 6, No. 2, 69-79.
[18] Transportation Advisory Board, "Pavement design: concepts & sections," Public Works Department, Engineering Services Division, 2010, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
[19] F. Parker, and J. Song, "Evaluation of flexible pavement performance using LTTP data," Final Report Project No. 930-419, Highway Research Center, Herbert Engineering Center, 2002, Auburn University, Alabama, USA.
[20] J. P. Guyer, "Introduction to flexible pavement design," Course No: C02-015, Continuing Education and Development, Inc., 2009, New York, USA.
[21] M. S. Al-Hassan, "Factors affecting quality of pavement construction in Saudi Arabia," M. S. Thesis, Department of Construction Engineering and Management, College of Environmental Design, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, 1993, Saudi Arabia.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Ahmed Yousry Akal, Ahmed Ebrahim Abu El-Maaty. (2016). Fuzzy Assessment of Factors Influencing Quality Level of Highway Projects. International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems, 2(2), 6-14. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11

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    ACS Style

    Ahmed Yousry Akal; Ahmed Ebrahim Abu El-Maaty. Fuzzy Assessment of Factors Influencing Quality Level of Highway Projects. Int. J. Manag. Fuzzy Syst. 2016, 2(2), 6-14. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11

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    AMA Style

    Ahmed Yousry Akal, Ahmed Ebrahim Abu El-Maaty. Fuzzy Assessment of Factors Influencing Quality Level of Highway Projects. Int J Manag Fuzzy Syst. 2016;2(2):6-14. doi: 10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11,
      author = {Ahmed Yousry Akal and Ahmed Ebrahim Abu El-Maaty},
      title = {Fuzzy Assessment of Factors Influencing Quality Level of Highway Projects},
      journal = {International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {6-14},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijmfs.20160202.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijmfs.20160202.11},
      abstract = {A construction project such as highway comprises two distinct phases: preconstruction and construction. During these phases several factors are particularly noteworthy because of their significant impacts on the quality. As a result, the construction projects may be exposed to quality shortfalls. This paper aims at identifying the factors that may affect the quality of highway infrastructure projects in Egypt and determining their effectiveness degree through the application of fuzzy triangular approach. Using a detailed literature review, 39 factors have been identified to have an effect on the quality of the highway projects. A Pareto analysis shows that the first thirty factors contribute 80.249% of the weight of all the factors. The analysis of the collected questionnaires as perceived by the contracting engineers using the fuzzy approach reveals that availability of experienced staff in the owner’s and contractor’s teams during the project execution, asphalt quality and type used in the construction process, availability of the specified materials quality, pavement is not designed according to regional conditions (e.g. soil type -temperature - traffic volume) and design errors arising from inadequate engineer assumptions and inaccurate data are the major causal factors affecting the quality of the highway construction projects in Egypt.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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    AU  - Ahmed Yousry Akal
    AU  - Ahmed Ebrahim Abu El-Maaty
    Y1  - 2016/09/26
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    T2  - International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems
    JF  - International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems
    JO  - International Journal of Management and Fuzzy Systems
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    AB  - A construction project such as highway comprises two distinct phases: preconstruction and construction. During these phases several factors are particularly noteworthy because of their significant impacts on the quality. As a result, the construction projects may be exposed to quality shortfalls. This paper aims at identifying the factors that may affect the quality of highway infrastructure projects in Egypt and determining their effectiveness degree through the application of fuzzy triangular approach. Using a detailed literature review, 39 factors have been identified to have an effect on the quality of the highway projects. A Pareto analysis shows that the first thirty factors contribute 80.249% of the weight of all the factors. The analysis of the collected questionnaires as perceived by the contracting engineers using the fuzzy approach reveals that availability of experienced staff in the owner’s and contractor’s teams during the project execution, asphalt quality and type used in the construction process, availability of the specified materials quality, pavement is not designed according to regional conditions (e.g. soil type -temperature - traffic volume) and design errors arising from inadequate engineer assumptions and inaccurate data are the major causal factors affecting the quality of the highway construction projects in Egypt.
    VL  - 2
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Menoufia University, Shibeen El-kom City, Egypt

  • Faculty of Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, Menoufia University, Shibeen El-kom City, Egypt

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