The development of cognitive models for constructability assessment in steel frame structures

This paper describes the use of interviewing techniques to understand problem solving and the development of knowledge models for automated constructability assessment. Interviews were conducted with domain experts who had several years of experience in design, fabrication and construction of steel structures, and project management. Deep knowledge mining and protocol analysis were used to identify constructability issues and develop decompositions of the cognitive tasks associated with problem solving in the domain. A concept map was created to identify the roles, level of task decompositions and constructability assessment processes/issues from different disciplines and perspectives. The study shows that in addition to design review processes, other factors such as procurement route selection (i.e. contract methods such as design and construct), and effective communication of design parameters between the stakeholders, are all essential to realise the goals and objectives of constructability in infrastructure engineering and project management. The paper discusses these findings and gives recommendations for further work.