18th LACCEI International Multi-Conference for Engineering, Education, and Technology: “Engineering, Integration, and Alliances for a Sustainable Development” “Hemispheric Cooperation for Competitiveness and Prosperity on a Knowledge-Based Economy”, July 27-31, 2020, Virtual Edition. 1 CONSTRUCTION PROCESS SIMULATION USING CYCLONE MODEL Edward Santa María 1 , Igor Rojas Dominguez 2 , and Javier Cornejo 1 1 Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Peru, esantamariad@uni.edu.pe, jcornejot@uni.pe 2 Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Peru, yago1509@hotmail.com Abstract– This article describes some applications for construction process simulation. Firstly, some processes have been conceptually worked using Cyclone Model (Halpin) and then they were simulated on Software Arena and Spreadsheets for testing in some situations with different adjustments in parameters (mainly number of equipment) associated to unit costs and global cost on alternative scenarios that allows decisions about planning and equipment selection to be made. Two types of cyclone models are presented, metal structures works and earthworks optimization. The simulation process helps to get an overview of many options for construction process and to obtain an optimal scenario. Keywords-- Time compression, job-sequencing, work structuring, Cyclone, Optimization process. I. INTRODUCTION In the Construction Industry, the sequence of activities is vital to achieve the planned schedule. The construction processes are basically transformation operations, which progressively generate new materials (like concrete) or assembled elements from the interaction of machines / people, raw material and movement. Today, all engineering processes can be modeled by computational procedures. II. BACKGROUND A. Simulation Process Construction processes involve many activities in where many resources are used along these and many interactions happen in order to complete them. The behavior of the main parameters involved in each of the processes can be studied from the statistical analysis of the measurements, which allows predicting new scenarios that improve or optimize the initial condition. . B. CYCLONE CYCLONE model (CYClic Operations Networks) was proposed by Halpin at 70’s (Halpin, 1983). The model focuses in resources utilization; then, these resources can be classified in two states, active task or idle condition. The active status is represented by rectangular forms (normal and combi elements) and the idle status is represented by circular forms (queue and function elements). It exists also the counter for track the number of cycle process (internal o global process, it depends of CYCLONE design) Normal: It is a non-constraint task. This type of task can represent multiple resources allocated in parallel ways. That is, the transformation or movement process can be started as soon as resources are available to start the process, so that the parallel processing capacity is considered infinite. This task must be reconsidered in cases where the capacity limit is reached and congestion processes are generated. One of the classic examples is the beginning of the transport of material, since once the vehicle has been loaded, it can leave immediately without further restriction. If there are intermediate processes such as inspection in checkpoints or that the road has traffic or capacity limitations, the Normal form cannot be used. Combi: It is a constraint task, limited by the availability of material resources or the equipment / labor necessary for the transformation or movement in each individual process. When the resource arrive to combi waits the availability of process to execute task. Queue: It represents the time in which the process resources (transformation or movement) are inactive because there are no materials or other processing resources that are necessary to complete the task. The wait is associated with a Combi task. Function: Is a flexible parameter than permits reimagine the another way to perform the process, to take into account any process that should be reviewed, an indicator or marker of the process that identifies some aspect that can be improved, or for other purposes. Fig. 1. Description of CYCLONE parameters. C. ARENA Simulation Software Arena Simulation Software is an industrial tool for process optimization that allows to create specific models for the process, and, after analysis, can optimize the total of resources. Some scenarios can be modelled, like detailed processes, supply chain (include external logistic and internal process for storage and distribution), material and equipment uses. The goals are the predicting performance under some conditions and constraints, like costs, time, throughput, cyclic process, bottlenecks. These elements serve to improve global planning. Digital Object Identifier (DOI): http://dx.doi.org/10.18687/LACCEI2020.1.1.589 ISBN: 978-958-52071-4-1 ISSN: 2414-6390