Fan Xue

The University of Hong Kong | HKU · Department of Real Estate and Construction

[Free PDF:🌐 https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1jIVl3IhXM-Iyn 🌐 until Aug 2024] Existing construction activity-monitoring technologies, such as CCTV cameras and IoT devices, have limitations, such as lack of depth information, 3D measurement errors, or wireless signal vulnerability. The limitations are particularly problematic for activities related to...

Surface space constraints and the associated massive carbon emissions present significant challenges to the sustainable development of megacities. Urban underground space (UUS) construction is expected to provide a practical approach for alleviating the space constraints of surface construction. However, in-depth examinations of the overall UUS sys...

The nexus between digital technologies (DTs) and sustainability in the built environment has attracted increasing research interest in recent years, yet understanding DT utilization and its impact on construction processes remains fragmented. To address this gap, this study conducts a systematic review of the construction sustainability literature...

Large-scale assessment of window views is demanded for precise housing valuation and quantified evidence for improving the built environment, especially in high-rise, high-density cities. However, the absence of a semantic segmentation dataset of window views forbids an accurate pixel-level assessment. This paper presents a City Information Model (...

Embracing sustainable strategies that consider Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) has become a rapidly growing trend in urban development. Continued uncertainty on the sustainability assessment of design could drive a series of indecisive decision-making among design alternatives, further disrupting the potential opportunities toward sustai...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Compact building models are demanded by global smart city applications, while high-definition urban 3D data is increasingly accessible by dint of the advanced reality capture technologies. Yet, existing building reconstruction methods encounter crucial bottlenecks against high-definition data of lar...

A value stream mapping approach to the identification of lean management opportunities for off-site construction production: A case of reinforced concrete slabs. ABSTRACT: Off-site construction (OSC), including prefabrication and Modular-integrated Construction (MiC), is gaining popularity as a school of sustainable construction methods that can im...

The great challenge of global climate change urges world economies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable development, where the building sector plays a vital role. Carbon tracking technology is one of the keys to capturing carbon emissions for sustainable construction such as net-zero buildings. This paper reviews five key carb...

Blockchain technology emphasizes trust and collaboration through distributed networks and is deemed to contribute to building information modeling (BIM) based construction collaboration and management. However, the open nature of blockchain introduces severe cybersecurity attacks that undermine the trustworthiness of construction management. One sa...

Many existing 3D semantic segmentation methods, deep learning in computer vision notably, claimed to achieve desired results on urban point clouds. Thus, it is significant to assess these methods quantitatively in diversified real-world urban scenes, encompassing high-rise, low-rise, high-density, and low-density urban areas. However, existing publ...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Modular-integrated Construction (MiC) is an emerging construction technique promoted in the building sector for high productivity and low waste emission in the construction phase; yet, the standardized modules also bring new challenges, such as balancing passive energy efficiency and spatial dayligh...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] The adoption of virtual reality (VR) in the construction industry provides an immersive experience for users to view and interact with Building information modeling (BIM). However, in the current practice, the VR experience is created manually, which is time-consuming and does not refer to other val...

High-rise high-density cities around the world suffer from severe urban heat island effects. Greenery has the potential to heal urban microclimates, such as shading, lowered air temperatures, and increased humidity, apart from other benefits to urban health. Existing numerical simulation studies employing simplified, proxy greenery models have vali...

Digital twin construction (DTC), the virtual replica of physical construction, is an essential enabler for the promised Construction 4.0. Thanks to its real-time virtual-physical synchronicity, many uncertainty-tolerant functions, and applications, such as system integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance, could be dynamically simulated and...

This paper explores the application of automated machine learning (AutoML) techniques to the construction industry, a sector vital to the global economy. Traditional ML model construction methods were complex, time-consuming, reliant on data science expertise, and expensive. AutoML shows the potential to automate many tasks in ML construction and t...

This paper explores the application of automated machine learning (AutoML) techniques to the construction industry, a sector vital to the global economy. Traditional ML model construction methods were complex, time-consuming, reliant on data science expertise, and expensive. AutoML shows the potential to automate many tasks in ML construction and t...

Many existing 3D semantic segmentation methods, deep learning in computer vision notably, claimed to achieve desired results on urban point clouds, in which the city objects are too many and diverse for people to judge qualitatively. Thus, it is significant to assess these methods quantitatively in diversified real-world urban scenes, encompassing...

Mobile cranes are essential equipment in constructionsites due to their high flexibility and mobility. However,the existing sensing or monitoring methods havelimitations in monitoring mobile cranes on sites.Recently, the advent of 4D point cloud (4DPC)technology with a unique spatial-temporal data structurehas shown potential in addressing these is...

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has presented great potential in the construction industry. Scan-to-BIM is demanded to verify as-designed models and to digital twin many existing buildings without BIMs. This paper focuses on an extreme case without human interferences like data cleansing and partitioning – fully automatic Scan-to- BIM, on which...

The existing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks lack transparency and consistency in reporting and can introduce extra costs to the industry. This study proposes a blockchain-based token economic model to incentive construction companies for their ESG performance and addresses the issues of transparency. The model is expected to...

The AEC industry is undergoing a digital transformation, which is leading to partially blended learning modes in collaborative and interactive learning environments. However, online meeting software has been found to have limited capacity when it comes to teaching and learning complex geometries and systems in AEC courses. To address this issue, th...

In the era of digital twins, high-definition 3D point clouds of cultural relics, such as the bronze drums of ancient Southeast Asia and China, are increasingly available as digital heritage. This study applies an automatic hierarchical clustering method to compare and cluster 14 unstructured 3D models of frogs on drums based on the dissimilarity me...

Urban-scale quantification of window views can inform housing selection and valuation, landscape management, and urban planning. However, window views are numerous in high-rise, high-density urban areas and current automatic assessments of window views are inaccurate and time-consuming. Thus, both accurate and efficient assessment of window views i...

Urban-scale quantification of window views can inform housing selection and valuation, landscape management, and urban planning. However, window views are numerous in high-rise, high-density urban areas and current automatic assessments of window views are inaccurate and time-consuming. Thus, both accurate and efficient assessment of window views i...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Building information modeling (BIM) detailing, the process of adding the level of graphical and non-graphical details, is required in many BIM stages and applications; however, manual BIM detailing is a resource-intensive and costly process. This study proposes an automatic BIM detailing method base...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Machine learning (ML) has been recognized by researchers in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry but undermined in practice by (i) complex processes relying on data expertise and (ii) untrustworthy 'black box' models. As a result, ML results of complex non-linear AEC proble...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Urban dwellers enjoy nature exposure in the neighborhood built environment through visual and physical ways, such as window views and outdoor activities. However, existing studies and analytics examine these pathways separately, leading to underinformed urban planning practices such as difficult pri...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Advanced information technologies such as the In-ternet of Things (IoT) and Modular Construction (MC) bring new potentials to the construction industry. The trustworthiness is critical for MC quality assurance (QA), particularly in the offshore manufacture stage. The emerging blockchain technology w...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Construction project management (CPM) is inherently complex and distributed, while digital twin and blockchain are recognized as promising solutions for information-reliant CPM. By learning from the lessons of Blockchain 1.0 and 2.0 paradigms in the literature, such as slow synchronization and faile...

Urban material stock (UMS) represents an elegant thinking by perceiving cities as a repository of construction materials that can be reused in the future, rather than a burdensome generator of construction and demolition waste. Many studies have attempted to quantify UMS but they often fall short in accuracy, primarily owing to the lack of proper q...

The construction industry is encountering management issues, such as low efficiency, inadequate regulation and enforcement, absence of good coordination and knowledge sharing, and ineffective billing practices. Blockchain is also gaining momentum as a part of the digital transformation in the construction area and response to various challenges. Si...

A large portion of cross-knowledge domain tasks have interdependent relationships with varied components in modular construction (MC). The MC components serve as the critical resources to support the task planning and execution for generating excellent MC products and services. Meanwhile, dynamic changes of tasks may adversely affect the design, pr...

A smart contract is a protocol that can self-execute when predefined conditions are met. This new technology is considered destructive and can transfer the construction industry. In Blockchain 2.0, the combined use of blockchain and smart contracts allows users to express business logic to achieve more advanced transactions. This research aims to c...

The advent of Building Information Model (BIM) has established a new paradigm of project management. BIM contains more and more information generated with the evolution of projects. Most of the information in BIM is organized in an object-oriented way. Thus, the unit of information management is every single component in BIM. The name of every comp...

Managing construction waste efficiently to minimize its irreversible harm to the surrounding environment has been a long-standing issue plaguing various economies around the globe. Against such backdrop, prefabrication as a green building technology capable of reducing construction waste at source has been increasingly advocated by governments worl...

The COVID-19 pandemic has great impacts on the whole world. Construction industry is no exemption. However, to what extent has the pandemic influenced the construction industry has not been fully investigated. This paper aims to quantitatively analyze such impacts in Hong Kong and Singapore, which are two international cities high dependent on the...

Sustainability in cross-border logistics requires issues such as fragmented management to be addressed. Particular challenges arise in cross-border logistics in modular construction (CLMC) because supervision is inefficient, primarily due to continued use of paper-based documentation. Researchers have developed digital platforms that integrate accu...

[Free PDF:🌐 https://frankxue.com/#publications 🌐] Every windowed room has a view, which reflects the visibility of nature and landscape and has a strong influence on the health, living satisfaction, and housing value of inhabitants. Thus, automatic accurate window view assessment is vital in examining neighborhood landscape and optimizing the socia...

A COVID-19 outbreak occurred in May 2020 in a public housing building in Hong Kong – Luk Chuen House, located in Lek Yuen Estate. The horizontal cluster linked to the index case’ flat (flat 812) remains to be explained. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were conducted to obtain the wind-pressure coefficients of each external opening on the e...

As-built BIM represents a facility as actually constructed or as it currently exists. The information, such as actual geometry, current functions, and real topology, in as-built BIM is vital to construction research and smart city development. Two complementary classes of methods, i.e., digital 3D reconstruction and semantic enrichment, were applie...

Timely and accurate recognition of construction waste (CW) composition can provide yardstick information for its subsequent management (e.g., segregation, determining proper disposal destination). Increasingly, smart technologies such as computer vision (CV), robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI) are deployed to automate waste composition reco...

Onsite assembly is a critical stage for modular construction. Its success or failure depends on accurate information sharing among numerous stakeholders who, unfortunately, often possess unsynchronized information. Owing to its decentralized consensus mechanism, blockchain has the potential to improve information-sharing accuracy on construction si...

Quantifying truck-loaded materials is a problem in many industrial operations. In construction and demolition waste (CDW) management, inspectors at disposal facilities are often required to measure the amount of different waste components loaded by incoming trucks to determine admissibility. Due to the bulky and mixed nature of construction materia...

Configuring a trustworthy Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled building information modeling (BIM) platform (IBP) is significant for modular construction to ensure transparency, traceability, and immutability throughout its fragmented supply chain management. However, most current IBPs are designed adopting a centralized system architecture, which fail...

Traditionally, construction managers were considered more experienced in project management than off-site production management, although the latter is gaining importance with the renaissance of modular construction worldwide. Various Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled Building Information Modelling (BIM) platforms have been developed to facilitate p...

Many cross-knowledge domain tasks involving various professional backgrounds have been transferred from construction sites to factories in modular construction (MC). In MC, forming optimal work packages which can handle the complexity of product breakdown structures and dynamic project progress is critical for task planning and execution. However,...

This research aims to develop a multi-criteria decision matrix (MCDM) for project management (PM) professionals, which will support blockchain type selection, evaluate blockchain platforms, and plan blockchain systems. The MCDM is substantiated through a case study that includes a questionnaire and an illustrative example pertinent to the construct...

The built environment closely relates to the development of COVID-19 and post-disaster recovery. Nevertheless, few studies examine its impacts on the recovery stage and corresponding urban development strategies. This study examines the built environment’s role in Wuhan’s recovery at the city block level through a natural experiment. We first aggre...

Construction businesses expanding internationally often need to devise corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an indispensable component of their competitive strategies. Companies will customize their CSR programs to be in line with host countries’ institutional environments. Meanwhile, this customization will be unavoidably influenced by the ins...

A smart contract is a protocol that can self-execute when predefined conditions are met. This new technology is considered destructive and can transfer the construction industry. In Blockchain 2.0, the combined use of blockchain and smart contracts allows users to express business logic to achieve more advanced transactions. This research aims to c...

The COVID-19 pandemic has great impacts on the whole world. Construction industry is no exemption. However, to what extent has the pandemic influenced the construction industry has not been fully investigated. This paper aims to quantitatively analyze such impacts in Hong Kong and Singapore, which are two international cities high dependent on the...

The advent of Building Information Model (BIM) has established a new paradigm of project management. BIM contains more and more information generated with the evolution of projects. Most of the information in BIM is organized in an object-oriented way. Thus, the unit of information management is every single component in BIM. The name of every comp...

A view is among the critical criteria in an architectural design process. Presently, it is assessed by conventional site observation, labour-intensive data collection, and manual data analysis before designing a building mass, plan, façade, openings, and interior space. City Information Model (CIM), with its capabilities to store, visualize, and an...

Building information modeling (BIM) has been widely used as the information hub for collaborations and has increasingly been mandated in the construction industry over the past decade. From the information perspective, there have been three BIM-based exchange paradigms: (i) file-based, (ii) cloud-based, and (iii) blockchain-based. Digital twin (DT)...

The realization of Modular Construction (MC) is impeded by several barriers, e.g., initial investment, logistics constraints, and negative perception. Design, a profoundly creative process to alleviate difficulties in the built environment, is prospected to enhance this construction method. Under this circumstance, many guidelines, recommendations,...

[Free PDF until Oct 2021: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1dbPQ,LlFPCdLK ] Reliable construction waste generation data is a prerequisite for any evidence-based waste management effort, but such data remains scarce in many developing economies owing to their rudimentary recording systems. By referring to several models proposed for estimating waste...

Window view is an intimate medium between occupants and nature, especially in high-density cities like Hong Kong; and thus belongs to the quality of a house or apartment. In literature, researchers found that window views of nature are vital to the occupants’ physical and psychological health and productivity improvement. Understanding the view sit...

The Hong Kong government has implemented the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme since 2006 to promote construction waste recycling among contractors. Under the scheme, in addition to the conventional approach of disposing construction waste at landfills, contractors are given the alternative options of dumping pure inert waste and waste wi...

Building information modeling (BIM) of cultural heritages, i.e., historic building information modeling (HBIM), advances the monitoring, maintenance, restoration, and virtual exhibitions of historical buildings. However, due to the elaborate styles and the unavoidable erosion and renovation, the reconstruction of HBIM from the prevalent raw data, s...

Nowadays, building information modeling (BIM) plays a crucial role in project collaboration. BIM information should be freely exchanged among different stakeholders for the purpose of collaboration. With the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), there are many novel data exchange methods for BIM information exchange. Howeve...

Blockchain can be regarded as a distributed database that records transaction data in a shared manner. This new technology is considered destructive and can transfer many data-driven industries, including construction. On the other hand, as one of the necessary measures to ensure quality, progress, and safety, construction inspection records still...

Blockchain technology has attracted the interest of the global construction industry for its potential to enhance the transparency, traceability, and immutability of construction data and enables collaboration and trust throughout the supply chain. However, such potential cannot be achieved without blockchain "oracles" needed to bridge the on-chain...