Carlos Caldas - Research Projects

Current:
Development of a Benchmarking System for Upstream Oil and Gas Projects
Sponsor: FEC/UFF/Petrobras
Total Amount: $598,617
PIs: Mulva, Caldas, and Jablonowski
Period: 11/2008 to 06/2010

Complete Implementation of the Electronic Appraisal System
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $208,000
PIs: Zhang and Caldas
Period: 04/2008 to 08/2009

Craft Productivity Research Program
Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute (CII)
Total Amount: $907,833
PIs: Goodrum, Caldas, and Haas
Period: 09/2007 to 12/2013

Global Procurement and Materials Management
Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute (CII)
Total Amount: $254,962
PIs: Caldas, Menches, and Reyes
Period: 09/2007 to 08/2009

Performance Test Methods for Automated Structural Steel Pick-and-Place
Sponsor: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Total Amount: $444,762
PI: Caldas
Period: 04/2006 to 03/2009

Completed:
Real-Time Spatial Information Acquisition and Use for Infrastructure Construction and Maintenance
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Total Amount: $364,684
PI: Caldas
Period: 09/2004 to 08/2008

Synthesis Study of Programs Used to Reduce the Need for Inspection Personnel
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $113,413
PIs: Menches, Caldas, and O'Connor
Period: 09/2007 to 08/2008

Leveraging Technology to Improve Construction Productivity
Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute (CII)
Total Amount: $199,747
PIs: Haas, Goodrum, and Caldas
Period: 09/2006 to 08/2008

Tracking the Performance of HMA Mixtures in Texas
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $199,289
PIs: Prozzi and Caldas
Period: 09/2005 to 08/2008

Effective Management Practices and Technologies for Lessons Learned Programs
Sponsor: Construction Industry Institute (CII)
Total Amount: $125,687
PIs: Gibson and Caldas
Period: 09/2005 to 08/2007

Optimizing the Identification of Right-of-Way Requirements during the Project Development Process
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $208,510
PIs: Caldas and Gibson
Period: 09/2005 to 08/2007

Implementation of the Electronic Appraisal System
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $135,000
PIs: Zhang and Caldas
Period: 09/2006 to 08/2007

Development of Obstacle Avoidance Algorithms for Construction Machinery Using a High Frame Rate FlashLADAR Sensor
Sponsor: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Total Amount: $50,940
PI: Caldas
Period: 09/2004 to 09/2006

Effectiveness of Combined Utility Relocation/Highway Construction Projects
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $248,916
PIs: O'Connor and Caldas
Period: 09/2004 to 08/2006

Electronic Appraisal Development Study
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $227,646
PIs: Zhang and Caldas
Period: 09/2004 to 08/2006

Implementation of a Right-of-Way (ROW) Acquisition Cost Estimating Planning Tool
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $162,000
PIs: Kockelman, Caldas, and Zhang
Period: 03/2005 to 08/2006

Best Practices for Right-of-Way Valuation and Negotiation
Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)
Total Amount: $84,943
PIs: Caldas, Zhang, Kockelman, and Persad
Period: 09/2005 to 08/2006

Field Trials of GPS Technology for Locating Fabricated Pipe in Laydown Yards
Sponsor: FIATECH/CCIS

Field Trials of RFID Technology for Tracking Fabricated Pipe - Phase II
Sponsor: FIATECH/CCIS

Field Trials of RFID Technology for Tracking Fabricated Pipe
Sponsor: FIATECH/CCIS

Integration of Project Documents in Model-Based Information Systems
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Doctoral Research - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Advisor: Dr. Lucio Soibelman

Project Descriptions:


 Real-Time Spatial Information Acquisition and Use for Infrastructure Construction and Maintenance

Current methods for spatial information acquisition and modeling rely on expensive laser range scanners that produce dense point clouds which require hours or days of post-processing to arrive at a finished model. While these methods produce very detailed 3D models of the scanned scene, the associated computational time burden precludes these methods from being used onsite for real-time decision-making. A rapid modeling approach for modeling local scenes for construction equipment operations, developed by the investigators with previous NSF support, presents significant advantages over full range scanning that require computationally intensive image processing. This approach provided a foundation for the development of the proposed novel methods of acquiring, integrating, modeling, and analyzing project site spatial data, including dynamic site information (motion of personnel and equipment), that allow scalability and robustness for real-time, field deployment. These methods will enable complete local area modeling in the order of seconds, and with sufficient accuracy for applications such as real-time safety monitoring and advanced equipment control. The development of a real-time obstacle avoidance system using rapidly generated site models is also proposed, as well as an experimental plan with real infrastructure operation sites and equipment, to validate the proposed site data acquisition and obstacle avoidance methods. It is expected that the proposed approach will result in significant equipment safety improvements while at the same time lessening the need for skilled workers to operate heavy equipment in a wide range of site working conditions. Initial experimental work has demonstrated the feasibility of this approach.

 Development of Obstacle Avoidance Algorithms for Construction Machinery Using a High Frame Rate FlashLADAR Sensor

Rapid spatial data collection is desirable for many applications in engineering and construction. Recent technology developments such as Flash LADAR devices (Laser Detection and Ranging) allow the rapid acquisition of range and sensitivity data of a scene. Algorithms that can process the output from these devices have the potential to improve work processes as the sensed data can represent site models and register object locations at any time. These methods can be applied to important tasks including the placement of structural steel components and development of obstacle avoidance systems for safe operation of heavy equipment. The objective of this work is to develop obstacle detection algorithms for construction machinery using a high frame-rate Flash LADAR sensor. The focus of this study will be on the detection of the presence of construction-type objects including people, material, and equipment in structured or unstructured environments. Indoor and outdoor experiments will be performed under realistic field conditions. Benchmark tests will be conducted to analyze the algorithms and evaluate the trade-off between scene detail and processing speed. The final algorithms will allow the modeling of a scene acquired from a moving object and recognizing both stationary and moving obstacles in the motion path.

Electronic Appraisal Development Study

Providing the public with safe transportation facilities, such as highways, is a primary objective of state departments of transportation. The construction of highways requires a significant amount of right-of-way acquisition—a complicated, multi-stage process involving numerous participants. One stage, the appraisal of the real estate, is a determination of the value to be paid by the department of transportation to fully compensate the landowner for the loss of land and resulting severance damages incurred. Variations in the value placed on the real estate often exist between departments of transportation and the landowner involved and even between two different appraisers evaluating the same or similar piece of property. As discussed in NCHRP Report 126, “the most important basic reason for divergences in estimates of value is the nature of the value itself. Value is a subjective phenomenon… Real estate valuation is an art that calls for the exercise of experienced judgment based on a logical and justifiable approach; it is an observational process—by no means an exact science.” Because individuals with varying degrees of experience, knowledge and background will be employed to perform land appraisals for right-of-way acquisition, there will inevitably be differences between two independent values placed on the same or similar pieces of property. And, though technological advances and institutional experience have decreased the prevalence and magnitude of these differences over the last few decades, the problem still exists. The objective of this project is to develop an electronic appraisal system that can be used to store, transmit, manage, and analyze appraisal data for purposes of improving the review process and therefore reducing the occurrence and effects of variations in land appraisal values. The system will ultimately streamline the right-of-way acquisition process by providing vital information to decision makers at state departments of transportation. As a result of this study, appraisers and appraisal reviewers will be able to access and analyze appraisal information in a more efficient way.

Effectiveness of Combined Utility Relocation/Highway Construction Projects

As more and more TxDOT projects are located in highly congested metro settings, many such projects require that adjacent utilities be relocated to make room for new or expanded roadway facilities. The relocation of utilities prior to construction is a highly challenging operation from many perspectives. As a result of such complications, TxDOT’s task of managing utility relocation is daunting and fraught with risk and uncertainty. One major strategic approach that has emerged over the last 15 years is for state DOTs to combine utility relocation work with the construction contractor’s scope of work, thereby eliminating or reducing some of the associated complications and risks. This approach is referred to in this proposal as the Combined Contractor Scope approach, or CCS. While many benefits can result from the CCS approach, it does have its disadvantages and own set of challenges. In addition, given the complications, there is a significant need for a decision support tool to provide guidance to TxDOT decision-makers as to when CCS s hould be applied. The challenges in implementing the CCS approach can also vary widely and such challenges need to be defined and analyzed, and associated needs for implementation supports need to be identified. For example, TxDOT needs factual information and guidance on how to best “sell” the CCS approach to reluctant utilities. Thus, key components of this proposed research are to quantify and document CCS advantage-disadvantage trade-offs, better understand those project circumstances with which the benefits of CCS can be leveraged, and better understand how CCS-related concerns of utilities can be most effectively addressed. To accomplish this, a wide variety of information sources will be considered and previous CCS implementation history will be thoroughly examined from both DOT and utility perspectives.

Implementation of a Right-of-Way (ROW) Acquisition Cost Estimating Planning Tool

In the estimation of the potential cost of right of way required for a transportation project, districts have typically relied upon last minute estimates without a basis of support other than gross historical trends. While contracting of appraisers is a possibility, the potential conflict arising from an early appraisal without completed maps, owner contacts, etc. would undoubtedly result in legal issues during the acquisition process.A cost estimation tool for use in the early planning stages of a project (which would not be considered a substitute for additional appraisal) was developed under research project 0-4079 “Impacts of Land Use and Land Use Change on ROW Costs”. The cost estimation tool developed under research project 0-4079 embodies three separate cost models and applies the most appropriate model based on user inputs of land use and acquisition type. This tool has significant potential for enhancing the project development process, including estimation of the cost of right of way acquisition for the Trans Texas Corridor and other high profile transportation projects. Implementation of this tool will ultimately provide district staff with the ability to produce estimates of right of way costs for transportation projects in a logical and consistent format.

 Effective Management Practices and Technologies for Lessons Learned Programs

The implementation of lessons learned programs is a crucial component of knowledge management systems in construction organizations. The term “lessons learned” is defined as the “knowledge gained from experience, successful or otherwise, for the purpose of improving future performance.” With the high turnover in our industry, the knowledge gained on a particular project can be lost, limiting the ability to transfer the lessons learned from project to project. Lessons learned programs should facilitate knowledge management and strategic learning. They should provide active repositories of dynamic information, including adequate procedures for renewal and validation. The goal is to create an environment to capture and retain relevant lessons that will ultimately help the organization in the future. However, there are several aspects that need to be considered, including organization type and size, project characteristics, technology platform, and inter-organizational knowledge transfer issues. The primary purpose of this research project is to provide definitive recommendations, guidelines, and tools for development of lessons learned programs. Effective information technology resources will be identified and analyzed. Case studies and performance data will be provided.

 Best Practices for Right-of-Way Valuation and Negotiation

Right-of-way acquisition is a crucial component of the overall planning and implementation of highway and transportation projects. Over the last few decades, the right-of-way acquisition process has become significantly more complex, expensive, time consuming, and socially sensitive. The valuation of the parcels to be acquired and the negotiations with property owners are extremely important aspects of this process. Successful valuation can benefit TxDOT by reflecting fair market prices and building good rapport with landowners, which can also have an effect on the reduction of project duration. Negotiation also has its own significant role in the acquisition process, not only by helping to maintain good relationships between DOTs and property owners but also by increasing trust in transportation planning. Public satisfaction should be pursued, while maintaining the desired time and cost project performances. In order to achieve these goals many different types of issues need to be considered, such as practice differences, communication of engineering details in the early stages of new projects, differences in appraisal types and methodologies, and the effect of pertinent laws and statutes, among others. All these factors influence effective right-of-way acquisitions. Therefore, there is a need to summarize best practices in right-of-way valuation and negotiation. This research project aims to identify these best practices, as well as process differences, legal aspects, and influence factors related to ROW valuations and negotiations.

Optimizing the Identification of Right-of-Way Requirements during the Project Development Process

Determination of right–of-way requirements during the project development process depends on many factors including proposed alignment, typical sections, access control, and accommodation for construction, drainage, clear zone, highway access maintenance, accessible pedestrian design, and environmental mitigation. In most cases, right of way survey and acquisition cannot begin until a design schematic has been completed and approved as well as receiving an approved environmental document giving authority for TxDOT to release the project for survey and acquisition of the right of way. However, a sufficient level of preliminary work must be accomplished by the design team to make an adequate right of way needs determination. The purpose of this research project is to review design-related factors in relation to the project development timeline to ascertain the impact of these factors on the determination right of way requirements. The product of the research effort will be development of a Best Practices Model, methodology or series of scenario-specific strategies to accelerate/optimize the right–of-way requirements identification process. The research will include a sensitivity analysis that allows early quantification of the level of certainty associated with right of way requirements. This tool would provide engineers and planners the means by which to run scenario specific analysis of right–of-way requirements in a more timely manner and with greater accuracy.

Performance Test Methods for Automated Structural Steel Pick-and-Place

The primary objective of the proposed project is to build upon recent work conducted by The Construction Metrology and Automation Group (CMAG) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the Automated Construction Testbed (ACT) (which initially focuses on structural steel erection) in order to contribute to the development of a test method for evaluating the performance of automated large-scale pick-and-place operations. This method will serve as a baseline in future NIST efforts to establish more general standard test methods for performance and use of automated construction equipment.

Leveraging Technology to Improve Construction Productivity

This research aims to identify the impact that changes in equipment, material, and information technologies have had on construction productivity. To support this purpose, the research will adapt existing tools and develop a metric to quantify the type and level of technology usage. Since a multitude of factors simultaneously impact a project’s productivity including work force characteristics and management practices, it is difficult to isolate technology’s impact on productivity. Therefore, the research will utilize an activity-based analysis in order to control for the number of factors that influence productivity at the project level. Correlating changes in technology with changes in productivity through statistical analysis will allow the research team to identify the order of magnitude that different technological characteristics have had on construction productivity, which will form the foundation for a model to assist future planning and implementation of new technologies. The model will be validated and expanded through field testing of a material tracking system.

Implementation of the Electronic Appraisal System

Research project TxDOT 9-1523 was a Texas-led national pooled fund study which has developed a prototype Electronic Appraisal System (EAS). The EAS streamlines the review and approval process for real property acquisition by allowing the capture, transmission, storage, management, analysis and reporting of appraisal data in a secure electronic format. The prototype was unveiled at the May, 2006 AASHTO Right of Way Conference in Baltimore, and has met with wide acceptance by state DOT right-of-way (R/W) personnel. However, the prototype is only a proof-of-concept for the EAS. It was built to demonstrate the key features of the proposed EAS with limited functionalities. In order to implement the EAS for TxDOT use, certain features of the prototype system must be customized to the local conditions of Texas while some other features of the prototype must be further enhanced and/or fine-tuned. This project aims to implement the EAS in TxDOT.

Tracking the Performance of HMA Mixtures in Texas

This project was initiated to expand on and apply the database and software developments conducted under Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) inter-agency contracts and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Pathfinder studies towards tracking and analyzing the performance of Type C, Superpave and Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) mixtures in Texas. Previous developments focused on linking Design and Construction Information System (DCIS) and Pavement Management Information System (PMIS) data. Project letting information imported from the DCIS is used to identify routes in Texas on which specific asphalt mixtures are paved. The performance of these mixtures is then tracked from PMIS records. This proposal outlines a strategy for upgrading and implementing the current procedures towards network level analysis of asphalt mixture performance. Aspects addressed include the development of a computer software package with a web-browser-based interface incorporating Geographical Information System (GIS) software with enhanced query and reporting features. A strategy to better address traffic wheel loads and axle type characterization is proposed to enhance the integrity of performance evaluations. The final product of the proposed research will serve as a pavement management tool to optimize asphalt mixture performance.

Global Procurement and Materials Management

The primary purpose of this research project is to update CII’s landmark materials management handbook, entitled Procurement and Materials Management: A Guide to Effective Project Execution, to reflect the current state-of-the-art and best practice in this field. The updated handbook will provide specific guidelines, procedures, and recommendations for implementation of a modern materials management program. Effective information technology resources will also be identified and analyzed as part of this research effort.

Synthesis Study of Programs Used to Reduce the Need for Inspection Personnel

The objectives of this research project are to: (1) identify the quality assurance and quality control best practices, procedures, and processes that have been implemented in other states, including construction inspection, materials testing, and certification of personnel; (2) to develop a document that summarizes these QA/QC best practices procedures, and processes; and (3) highlight those best practices procedures, and processes that demonstrate the greatest potential for efficiently reducing the testing and inspection workload for TxDOT personnel.

Craft Productivity Research Program

The objective of this research program is to identify and validate through field trials or other validation methodologies, initiatives, techniques, or methods that, if implemented would result in a craft productivity improvement of 50 percent. This productivity improvement would help to reduce project costs, mitigate skilled labor shortages, and improve project schedule performance.This research will require a comprehensive research program of five to six years rather than be the focus of a single research project.

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last update: 11/10/2008