Cell-based transport path obstruction detection approach for 4D BIM construction planning

On-site transport is common in most construction projects. Confined by site sizes and construction schedules, many construction tasks are implemented simultaneously within limited spaces; therefore, the paths necessary for the transport of site objects are likely to be obstructed. To solve this problem, in this research, we propose a cell-based methodology for path obstruction detection and conduct a test with a prototype to determine its accuracy and time requirements. The results show that, by choosing a proper cell step, the method can determine whether a site object's transport path is obstructed and can generate a suitable path if there is no path obstruction; otherwise, the potential obstacles can be listed and ranked based on their distances to the site object. The proposed method has the potential to support path obstruction detection in four-dimensional (4D) building information modeling (BIM) to improve the implementation of construction plans.