Discrete-Event Simulation for Estimating Emissions from Construction Processes

Abstract

Whereas estimating emissions from construction processes is crucial to evaluating emission-reduction plans, current approaches can only estimate emissions from an average rather than operational perspective due to an inability to model uncertainties or randomness for reflecting application characteristics. A discrete-event simulation (DES) method is presented for estimating construction emissions by addressing existing problems. An investigation on the load factor reflecting the application characteristics of some construction equipment is performed, and then an emissions-calculating model able to consider uncertainties or randomness regarding various activities in the equipment duty cycle is proposed. To implement the emissions-calculating model, an available DES system is modified regarding the modeling capabilities for emissions-related factors and the simulation strategy incorporating the emissions-calculating model. The presented DES method is expected to help evaluate the emissions-reduction plans for construction processes. Application analyses are presented to demonstrate the performances of the proposed discrete-event simulation method.