Tunnel design

Tunnel design

Designers of several disciplines need to coordinate their work to design a tunnel. This post describes a scientific case study of how to produce an integral design more efficiently.

Sector: Private

Industry: Construction

Domain: Tunnels

Tunnel design.
Tunnel design

Improve tunnel design: Preparation

Describe

Organization. The design and construction of a tunnel involves a team of designers from seven different disciplines. In a tunnel engineering project, they produce seven partial designs of a tunnel, one for each discipline, together forming an integral design. When they find alignment conflicts in the integral design, they resolve them by modifying their partial designs.

Environmental factors. A tunnel engineering project is a tender project. In the preparation phase, the information needed for design is limited. During execution, time and money are limited.

Challenge. The more alignment conflicts in an integral tunnel design, the more effort, time, and money it takes to resolve them.

Formulate

Goal. Increase performance of the team.

Objective. Minimize the number of alignment conflicts in an integral tunnel design.

Benefit. Less design costs.

Estimate

Worthwhile.

Improve tunnel design: Execution

Identify

Inventory

  • Prepare a tunnel design
    • Manage a meta-model of construction designs
    • Manage a repository of construction designs
  • Produce a tunnel design
    • Produce a partial tunnel design
    • Combine partial tunnel designs into an integral tunnel design

Discover

  • Produce a partial tunnel design
    • Bound a partial tunnel design space by a set of partial tunnel designs
    • Produce a partial tunnel design within a partial tunnel design space

Analyze

Classify

  • Knowledge:
    • Bound a partial tunnel design space by a set of partial tunnel designs
  • Experience:
    • Produce a partial tunnel design within a partial tunnel design space

Compare

  • Stakeholders needs:
    • Bound a partial tunnel design space by a set of partial tunnel designs
    • Produce a partial tunnel design within a partial tunnel design space

Assess

  • Equal advantage:
    • Bound a partial tunnel design space by a set of partial tunnel designs
    • Produce a partial tunnel design within a partial tunnel design space

Make

Acquire

  • System. Manage a meta-model of tunnel designs:
    1. Develop an ontology of tunnel designs
    2. Transform an ontology of tunnel designs into a meta-model of tunnel designs
  • System. Manage a repository of tunnel designs:
    1. Develop a repository of tunnel designs
    2. Implement a meta-model of tunnel designs in a repository of tunnel designs
  • System. Update the standard operating procedure for:
    • Manage a meta-model of tunnel designs
    • Manage a repository of tunnel designs
    • Produce a tunnel design
  • Skills. Train staff in:
    • Manage a meta-model of tunnel designs
    • Manage a repository of tunnel designs
    • Produce a tunnel design