Creation of robust design alternatives for temporary construction in value engineering

A temporary structure serves mainly to protect permanent building structures from the natural environment during the construction operation. When exposed to the natural environment, a temporary structure should effectively resist the variations in external factors that exist at construction sites. The objective of this paper is to provide a methodology for creating robust design alternatives for temporary construction in value engineering. A combined effort is presented by integrating the problem-solving principles of theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) in conjunction with robust design. In this approach, the design parameters are planned to minimize the impact of external factors on the intended design functions of temporary structures; consequently, a new alternative is selected to be more robust to withstand the surrounding site conditions. A case study conducted on a retaining wall and its related temporary structures demonstrated that the creation of robust design alternatives can be achieved by integrating the problem-solving principles with the external factors in robust design.