Construction Project Control in Virtual Reality: A Case Study

The construction process is a very complex undertaking. Achieving an effective control for the construction project is very difficult. A Virtual Construction Project Control System (VCPCS) is presented in this study and applied to a practical construction project in Shanghai, China, say, Chia-Tai Mall. VCPCS is the first Virtual Reality (VR) system for a large-scale real construction project in China. In the system, various execution strategies of Chia-Tai Mall construction are tested and the optimal construction plan is obtained. This optimal construction plan does not only ensure the construction duration the shortest, but also reduces the cost significantly for the contractors. Moreover, VCPCS also is very helpful for reasonably arranging human, material and financial resource as the need of construction schedule and effectively managing the construction site. The proposed VCPCS will enable the project team to undertake inexpensive rehearsals of major construction process and test various execution strategies in a near reality sense, prior to the actual start of construction. Therefore, some irrational steps in the original construction intents are found out and revised, until the field technicians expertly gain mastery to the optimal construction plan. Thus, VCPCS reduces the construction risk and ensures the safety of the field construction.