Integrated 3D Object Transformation and Simulation for Tower Crane Operations on Construction Sites

This paper presents a methodology for integrating 3D (three-dimensional) object transformations with simulation in order to build a 4D model to aid practitioners to visualize tower crane operations on the computer screen. Since the detailed project schedule is already divided into work-packages, the proposed methodology will further divide each work-package in to lift-packages. Each lift-package is geometrically designated for its source and final 3D-geometrical location in space. Additionally, the output of the simulation module will provide the simulated most probable time required to perform each lift. This paper focuses primarily on describing the 3D-geometrical transformation module and its integration with the simulated module.