Use of GIS for Quantification of Variations in Production Rates along Pipeline Length

Production rates of activities involved in a pipeline construction project vary along the project length. Understanding how production rates vary helps in developing an executable construction schedule. The existing research on how to quantify variations in production rates along the project length is limited. The main objective of this study was to develop a methodology for quantifying variations in activity-specific production rates along the length of the project by considering the influence of factors affecting production rates. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify factors affecting production rates in construction projects. The geographic information system (GIS) was used in the developed methodology to model the spatial variations in the values of influencing factors. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was employed to determine the relative influence of factors contributing to variations in the production rates. The calculated influences in the form of weights were used to prioritize influencing factors during the weighted sum analysis in GIS. Adjustment factors were derived from the weighted sum analysis to quantify spatial variations in production rates along the project length. The proposed methodology was applied to a case study project, where activity-specific production rates were estimated along the pipeline length and compared with the achieved field production rates. The computed activity-specific production rates were subsequently employed to develop the construction schedule for the case study project. The successful implementation of the developed methodology demonstrates its effectiveness in estimating accurate activity-specific production rates along the length of pipeline construction projects.