Productivity evaluation of a jackhammer excavation operation using different queuing models

Abstract

Ground excavation is the most common method used in Lebanon for construction, and trench excavation must account the most in system management and control to obtain full efficiency. This method must follow a certain procedure to reduce the cost. In Lebanon, the composition of soil can vary from location to another. Nevertheless, efficient methods must be placed to complete the work. The problem mentioned in this report is to obtain the most productive construction operation containing a jackhammer, backhoe, and trucks. To fulfill this need, in the excavation fields, one of the used methods is queuing model. Queuing model’s effectiveness is constrained by the complexity of providing the correct capacity of units, number of units and the working environment. These models enhance productivity and provide managers with the most suitable cost. In this project, two server and storage queuing models are tested and explained. Also, the productivity of an operation system is obtained using these two types of models. The research design consists of a jackhammer with multiple capacities (20t, 35t, 50t), backhoe of bucket capacity of 1.5m3 and 2m3, soil of different compositions and hauling trucks. the first model will have two servers (jackhammer and backhoe) while the second method will have as server the jackhammer with the backhoe providing the storage. Towards the end, the productivity will be obtained were the results show that using two-server queuing model is always more efficient than using storage queuing model when the cycle time of the trucks is low at first. In contrary, when the cycle time is high, the productivity will almost be the same in all the models. A table showing the difference in productivity between the models will be provide. The significance of the project is that the application of two-server queuing and storage queuing was not done before on a construction application containing a jackhammer, backhoe, and trucks