Abstract
Structural engineering is defined as the science of designing economical and safe infrastructure. A structural engineer’s activities on projects for transportation structures (bridges and culverts) are grouped into two main processes: structural design and production of construction documentation (i.e. construction drawings). Since a project lifecycle consists of several stages, the amount of time and effort contributed to the two processes must be adequately managed to ensure project success – in terms of performance and cost. However, unforeseen changes in design input parameters can result in costly re-work despite how effectively the structural processes are managed. Existing literature showed that the ability to impact the project cost and performance steadily decreases as the project progresses. Conversely, the cost of design changes increases as the project progresses. Therefore, to ensure project success, structural engineers must ensure that the time and effort contributed at the early stages of a project are kept minimal. Moreover, structural engineers must ensure that optimal solutions adhering to all requirements are always provided to avoid costly design changes at later stages of a project. Existing literature has also highlighted that more than 60% of the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community believe in the potential of automation and generative design methods to improve the structural design and analysis processes...
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)