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International Conference on Operations Research

OR 2021: Operations Research Proceedings 2021 pp 120–126Cite as

Optimal Numbers, Locations, and Configurations of Tower Cranes on Construction Sites

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Abstract

Choosing the right number, configurations, and locations of tower cranes can significantly impact building schedules and reduce construction cost. These decisions also depend on the choice of material supply points where the material is stored before being lifted to the given demand points. To ensure that the capacity of the cranes is not exceeded, load charts that specify the maximum weight that can be lifted at a certain boom radius need to be considered. We present a MILP model implemented in GAMS that solves this decision problem minimizing the crane operating, installation and rental costs. In addition to the optimization model, a heuristic in closed form is presented. For a realistic case of a construction site of mid-rise buildings, we compare solution quality, performance, and scalability of both approaches.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the GAMS model, we implemented the bounds (2), (4), and (6) by directly restricting the domain of the affected variables to those combinations of \(ijkcl\) and its subsets that are allowed by the values of \(\varGamma _{ijkc}\), \(\varDelta _{jl}\), and \(\varXi _{kc}\), respectively. While the resulting model is equivalent to the one defined in Sects. 2 and 3, it is smaller and in many cases easier to solve.

  2. 2.

    Due to costs related to the number of cranes exceeding operating costs by >2 orders of magnitude, this decision may be singled out in practical applications e.g., by imposing a constraint on \(\sum _{kc}{\xi _{kc}}\) (cf. Sect. 3).

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Acknowledgment

We thank our reviewer for useful & constructive comments improving this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SDB Science-Driven Business Ltd., Larnaca, Cyprus

    Thomas Ihor Maindl & Jannik Vogel

  2. Heidelberg Analytics, Heidelberg, Germany

    Jannik Vogel

Authors
  1. Thomas Ihor Maindl
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  2. Jannik Vogel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Ihor Maindl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Norbert Trautmann

  2. Department of Business Administration, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Mario Gnägi

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Maindl, T.I., Vogel, J. (2022). Optimal Numbers, Locations, and Configurations of Tower Cranes on Construction Sites. In: Trautmann, N., Gnägi, M. (eds) Operations Research Proceedings 2021. OR 2021. Lecture Notes in Operations Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_19

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