Project engineering

About: Project engineering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 609 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8869 citations.

Project engineering a major electrification project

Abstract: The author describes some of the engineering challenges faced by Projects that are embarking on the Electrification of existing Railway lines. The author principally concentrates on the wide ranging and diverse support that engineering provides throughout the lifetime of a project, in terms of developing the scope, defining and working with particular standards, dealing with the various interfaces both technical and managerial, commercial issues and bringing systems into service and resolving problems as they arise, These project areas are described in a time when very little new Electrification on existing lines has been provided in the UK over the past twenty years. In light of the reduced amount of electrification schemes over the past twenty years, the author investigates the future proposals to electrify large sections of the UK railway; specifically what is now required to ensure that they are engineered to meet today's modern needs, and uses the author's own project engineering experience on the Thameslink Programme and some lessons learnt from some recent enhancement schemes to identify key areas that project engineering designers and managers may need to consider going forward.

Deployment of a CVO pilot project for specialized trucks in Taiwan

Abstract: High accident rate, overloading, speeding, illegal dumping, driving on restricted routes, and over-time driving are the critical issues in managing specialized trucks in Taiwan. The specialized trucks are used for hauling aggregate materials mainly for construction. The current management system is unable to perform real-time management, such as illegal driver behavior monitoring, dynamic dispatching and emergency support. In order to solve these problems, this project attempts to improve the safety of the aggregate material transportation and its operation performance by means of real-time vehicle trucking, road information monitoring, and relevant application developments. Moreover, tests of advanced equipments are conducted to analyze the software and hardware requirements and system integration interface of intelligent transportation management systems, as well as the feasibility of incorporating an intelligent transportation system (ITS) into the management system. The pilot project includes 150 on-board units equipped with GPS, GIS and communication devices, together with vehicle data recorders. There are totally 150 trucks from northern, central and southern regions of Taiwan in the 8-month pilot project and 60 of them go into the second phase, which is another ten-months operation period.

Identifying risks in expert system projects

Abstract: Expert systems (ESs) have associated risks that managers need to know as they consider new projects The research reported is aimed at establishing a quantitative approach to assisting managers in identifying these risks Results of empirical studies and new automated tools are discussed The risks included: developing an application that fails to represent the expert's knowledge; failure to produce a usable system; upsetting people and groups within the organization who may feel threatened by the planned ES application; and exposing themselves or the organization to legal liability claims resulting from a malfunction of an ES application >

Going South: Analysis of an Historic Project Engineering Failure

Abstract: NASA’s successful conduct of the Apollo Program greatly enhanced the prestige of the United States and remains broadly accepted as America’s gift to all Manki nd. NASA’s accomplishments continue to amaze the world. With the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) Americans once again tasked NASA to carry out a project that is expected to provide in spiration and economic stimulus to the United States and to the world. In preparation NASA has thoroughly examined space program precedents. There is, however, another precedent which has not been examined in this context but whose scope and environment in many ways parallel the VSE. This project was initiated by a team that had, ten years before, successfully completed an effort that, at a cost of $173 billion (in 2008 dollars), had pushed the envelope of technology, brought economic growth, established their country as the world leader in engineering, and been broadly accepted as that country’s gift to all Mankind. The new project was again inspired by popular desire to enhance national prestige and make yet another major contribution to Humanity. This effort was predicted to require eight years and $156 billion (2008 dollars). However, afte r nine years and expenditures of 96% beyond the baseline, the project collapsed amid bankruptcy, political scandal, and criminal prosecution. This paper applies current project management metrics, such as earned value analysis, to review the strategic decisions in this historic failure and describe its ultimate colla pse. Key mistakes are identified, and lessons are drawn which may prove useful in guiding the VSE.

Communication and control techniques for hydro power stations

Abstract: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation of India is a premium undertaking engaged in development of hydro power in India. It has constructed some of the hydro power stations with fully automatic control. This has resulted in reducing operational limitations, improving availability, reduction in requirement of manpower to operate the project, operating cost and in turn indicates overall profitability of the project. The control systems act as the core to power generation plant operation. The authors examine the efficiency, availability, flexibility, convenience of expansion, open nature, communication protocol and performance, gained from past experiences. The system should essentially provide information to take decision. The authors also present recommendations ideally suited for hydro power stations based on techno-economical aspects in respect to the scheduling, monitoring, control and communication requirements.