Simulation Evaluating Feasibility of Highway Construction Schedules Considering Random Factors

In highway engineering, lots of random factors including raining, quantity and status of machines available for projects have direct impact on activities time. Therefore, while scheduling a project, managers always increase spare machines or prolong the activity time to avoid delaying the project time when those random factors have bad influence in construction site. However, how many are the spare machines and how long are the prolonged activities time, which are estimated subjectively by managers. This subjective estimation has been criticized for systematically overestimating or underestimating quantity of the machines and the activity time. In the paper, we analyze main random factors influencing the highway construction, and propose the algorithms to simulate if it is raining and the status of the machines in construction site. By analyzing the simulation trials results, there are lots of useful information for the project managers to evaluate the feasibility of the construction schedule.