Quantitative Analysis of the Factors Influencing Field Installation Time for Precast Concrete Building Components: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Installation time for precast concrete (PC) components varies due to component-, location-, and weather-related factors. Because such variability affects the cost, time, and sustainability performance of PC projects, it is important to identify and classify the factors influencing installation time for different types of PC components. Against this background, this study aims to empirically investigate variability in installation time for PC components and different work steps and then identify the factors that affect particular work steps most significantly. To achieve the goal, this study gathered installation time and other influencing factors data from an actual project for 25 days and analyzed the data using a descriptive approach and the recursive feature elimination with cross-validation (RFECV) analysis. The analysis result provides empirical evidence that different PC types and work steps are involved with different levels of variability in installation time. The highest level of variability was shown in PC beams and assembly work. Regarding the factors influencing installation time, it is shown that different work steps are affected by different sets of influencing factors, with temperature and wind speed as the most common influencing factors across different PC types and work steps. This study contributes to the body of knowledge of off-site construction management by offering empirical evidence on the variability in PC installation time and the specific factors affecting PC installation time.