Productivity Evaluation of the Conventional and GPS-Based Earthmoving Systems Using Construction Simulation

Over the past few decades, the construction industry has pursued productivity and quality improvement, enhanced safety, and reduced operational cost by applying geospatial data collection technologies. One solution, Global Positioning System (GPS) is being currently and applied to earthmoving operations with several benefits over conventional systems in efficiency, performance, and safety. Basically, a GPS-based system provides a stake-less operation controlled by the operator who is on the vehicle. The operator is informed of information such as the amount of cut and fill volumes associated with precise elevations and the current location of equipment in real time. With these enhanced functions provided by GPS, the GPS-based system can achieve productivity improvement by the simplification of surveying tasks and reworks which are not required. However, planners and estimators have been struggling with the lack of data for evaluating GPS-based systems versus conventional systems prior to commencement of site work. The objective of this study is to present application models for evaluating performance of the conventional and the GPS-based systems using Web CYCLONE, a simulation methodology.