Exploring Productivity of Concrete Truck for Multistory Building Projects Using Discrete Event Simulation

Concrete pouring activity is essential for the schedule and quality of the structural work construction. In practice, the process of concrete pouring is frequently congested and interrupted due to many unforeseeable reasons. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the productivity of concrete trucks for multistory building projects. The interview technique and work sampling method have been employed to collect the necessary data. Based on the literature review and experts’ opinions, twenty-five factors affecting the productivity of pouring concrete have been found and discussed. Among them, there are seven factors identified as different from previous studies. Through two case studies of the hospital project, the actual average productivity of one concrete truck used to pour concrete into columns and walls is 0.184 m3/min by using a truck-mounted pump and 0.087 m3/min by using a tower crane. These productivities have been then determined based on discrete event simulation (DES). The simulation results indicated that the simulated productivity is higher than the actual productivity of approximately 16% and 13% for truck-mounted pump and tower crane, respectively. It is concluded that DES is a handy simulation tool for construction operations before the period of implementation. Based on the relationship between events of the process of concrete pouring, two relevant solutions have been proposed to enhance the productivity of concrete trucks. The results of this study may help practitioners manage the concreting activities in their projects with higher productivity.