Onuegbu Ugwu

• BEng (Hons), MSc, PhD
• Professor (Full) at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike

Security vulnerability assessments are crucial for the sustainable development of critical infrastructure amid intensifying global environmental and socio-economic challenges. This study employs a scientometric analysis of 247 bibliographic records from the Web of Science database (2002–2022) to explore research trends and developments. A novel con...

An evaluation of the risks influencing project performance was conducted in the railway construction industry in the Eastern area of Nigeria in order to reduce the risks connected with a specific activity and the potential for worker harm. The data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire survey of the construction industries was calculated...

In order to lower the risk of worker injury during a particular activity, an analysis of all risks that were found to be impacting project performance from the railway construction sectors in the Eastern region of Nigeria was carried out. The data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire survey to the construction industries was calculated u...

An evaluation of the risks influencing project performance was conducted in the railway construction industry in the Eastern area of Nigeria in order to reduce the risks connected with a specific activity and the potential for worker harm. The data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire survey of the construction industries was calculated...

In order to lower the risk of worker injury during a particular activity, an analysis of all risks that were found to be impacting project performance from the railway construction sectors in the Eastern region of Nigeria was carried out. The data obtained from a self-administered questionnaire survey to the construction industries was calculated u...

The Nigerian construction industry grapples with challenges such as low profit margins, cost overruns, and project abandonment, necessitating robust risk management strategies. This study investigates the impact of capitalization on sustainable risk management within large construction firms in Nigeria. Data from 198 firms were collected via questi...

Nations are built to depend on critical infrastructures, key resources, assets, and facilities (CIKRAFs), hence the need to effectively analyse inherent vulnerabilities, to build and develop adequate protection and resilience capabilities. The purpose of this study is to develop a model that measures and quantifies a threshold vulnerability, called...

The study investigates the connection between strategic leadership and project management sustainability, with an emphasis on building projects in Nigeria. The study set out to accomplish two specific goals: first, it sought to establish a link between creative project management and resource efficiency in construction projects in Nigeria; and seco...

This paper aims to create a model template systematically designed to manage, collate, and transform a plethora of raw asphalt concrete mix design data into a format conducive to simulated modeling. Using a Virtual Lab for simulation modeling is becoming popular in construction and requires data. Also, the gathered raw data in different forms becom...

The study is aimed at improving the permeability aspect of concrete durability. The main reason for black olive oil (BLO) as the choice material relies on its inherent hydrophobic properties. The effect of BLO admixture on strength and permeability properties of concrete grade C30 was experimentally examined. BLO was integrated into the fresh concr...

In the course of reducing environmental nuisance, the usage of waste residue is gaining momentum in soil re-engineering protocols. This is because of the pozzolanic tendencies attributed to these waste derivatives during the treatment of weak engineering soils. This necessitated the present study to explore the utilization of binary additive materi...

Several efforts are being put forward to manage the swell-shrink characteristics of active soils in Nigeria's Niger Delta. These dynamic or expanding soils have an impact on all types of infrastructure, including roads built with or put on them. The wetting-drying durability of active soil stabilized using nanomaterial, an organo-silane compound co...

Few concrete components used for constructions within the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are contaminated with crude oil to varying ranges. An investigation into the split tensile behaviour of concretes to crude oil when cured in 10% crude oil/water medium is carried out in this work. In this work, crude oil was used as a fifth ingredient of concret...

Purpose Recent studies on construction supply chain management (CSCM) evaluated its vulnerability and challenging factors, but studies that have identified and examined the possible corrective measures of CSCM are rare. This study sets out to bridge this gap by identifying and evaluating the most effective CSCM corrective measures that will benefit...

In the field of soil re-engineering, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of soil material is considered as an essential soil parameter. This is because it also provides the strength benchmark of soil materials for usage in road foundations. However, Scheffe's approach in conjunction with the utilization of waste materials have been comprehensivel...

The industrial waste, Saw Dust Ash (SDA) has been explored by several concrete related researches to achieve environmental and economic sustainability. In this study, 5% of sand was replaced with SDA to produce concrete with five different mix ratios. Scheffe's simplex theory was used for five mix ratios in a {5,2} experimental design which resulte...

This study aims to critically evaluate the challenges of supply chain management in Nigeria's construction industry from a lean construction perspective. This research is based on mostly closed questions in a structured questionnaire, to align with the exploratory nature of the study. The theoretical part of the research is based on several publica...

The industrial waste, Saw Dust Ash (SDA) has been explored by several concrete related researches to achieve environmental and economic sustainability. In this study, 5% of sand was replaced with SDA to produce concrete with five different mix ratios. Scheffe’s simplex theory was used for five mix ratios in a {5,2} experimental design which resulte...

The study showcase the optimization of California bearing ratio (CBR) values of expansive soil treated with cement kiln dust (CKD) and metakaolin (MTK) blend based on Scheffe optimization method. The CBR values utilized in the design of road infrastructure is an important parameter because it provides the rating of soil material for use as subgrade...

This paper reports a research study that investigated buckling of stiffened rectangular isotropic plates elastically restrained along all the edges (CCCC) under uniaxial in-plane load, using the work principle approach. The stiffeners were assumed to be rigidly connected to the plate. Analyses for critical buckling of stiffened plates were carried...

This study presented the issue of railway transportation infrastructure sustainability which involves multi-dimensional view of sustainability criteria such as economy, environment and society with the problem of non-systematic method of assessment in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to ascertain the extent of practice of sustainability in railway...

The industrial waste, Saw Dust Ash (SDA), has played a key role in concrete mix research. It has served as an alternative or complementary material to some of the traditional materials of concrete. In this study, SDA was used to replace 5% of the fine aggregate (sand), as the other three ingredients, cement, granite, and water remained constant. Sc...

The cost of concrete is of great concern to Engineers and other construction stakeholders. As a result, several studies have been carried out to improve and control the quality and cost of concrete as a construction material. Saw Dust Ash (SDA) despite being an industrial waste, has been a significant addition to concrete to achieve quality and cos...

This research work is aimed at determining the effect of saturation of cement on the stability and compressive strength of concrete. Three different mix ratios were considered: 1:1½:3, 1:2:4 and 1:3:6; alongside three different water - cement ratios: 0.55, 0.60 and 0.65. The key concrete characteristics checked for were stability, workability and c...

Saw Dust Ash (SDA) despite being an industrial waste, has played a vital role in concrete mix research. It has served as an alternative or complementary material to some of the traditional materials of concrete. In this study, it served as a fifth ingredient of concrete blend as it replaced 5% of the fine aggregate (sand). The other four ingredient...

The cost of construction materials, particularly concrete is of great concern to Engineers and other construction stakeholders. As a result, several research has been carried out to improve and control the quality and cost of concrete as a construction material. Saw Dust Ash (SDA) despite being an industrial waste, has been a significant addition t...

Saw Dust Ash (SDA) despite being an industrial waste, has been a significant addition to concrete to achieve quality and cost control as well as promote sustainability. In this study, SDA served as a fifth ingredient of concrete blend as it replaced 5% of the fine aggregate (sand). The other four ingredients were cement, sand, granite, and water. S...

Nanotechnology has been widely discussed in extant literature as a technological solution to several problems associated with the use of construction materials for sustainable infrastructure delivery. This paper discusses findings from research that investigated applications of Nanotechnology on active soils. It highlights research findings on vari...

Unstabilised laterite has been reported to be an unsuitable base course material under tropical environmental conditions. This research considered the suitability of three cement types for laterite stabilisation to achieve optimal performance as a base course material. Cement samples investigated were Dangote 3X, Supaset and Powermax. A-5(4) and A-...

Objectives: To create increase the level of risk management awareness amongst construction stakeholders in Nigeria to enhance strong, vibrant and profitable industry. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted while stratified random sampling was adopted to select stakeholders. Structured questionnaire and t...

Construction industry is complex in nature because it contains large number of parties such as clients, consultants and contractors. The factors that influence construction management practice differ from country to country, due to prevailing conditions. The objective of this project is to identify factors that influence construction management pra...

This paper reports a research that investigated various challenging issues militate against successful delivery of sustainable transportation infrastructure projects in Nigeria focusing on roads. The case study method was used. In the research and several sources were used for data collection. These sources for primary data include case study based...

The global ICT Development Index ranking by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) shows that Nigeria moved up two places from 135 spot in 2012 to 133 in 2013 and also moved up to 14th position in Africa. This, no doubt signifies progress in the level of ICT utilization and developments in the country. This study is aimed at investigating...

bstract This paper reports on research conducted to investigate the use nanomaterials to improve the engineering properties of soils in constructing road pavements. The engineering properties investigated include: California bearing ratio (CBR), dry density (DD), plastic limit (PL), liquid limit (LL), plastic index (PI), shrinkage, and hydrophobic...

Traditional (or classical) construction contracting systems are often criticized for lowering productivity and satisfaction levels. Secondly, a broader perspective and a longer time horizon are being urged in order to develop more sustainable infrastructure. This paper addresses the above two concerns through a consolidated approach based on concep...

This paper reports the results of research on the application of nanomaterials to improve the quality and durability of road infrastructure. The research investigated road transportation infrastructure failures, and the feasibility of preventive engineering solutions using Nanotechnology. Laboratory experiments were conducted on different treated a...

Civil engineering profession has delivered infrastructures of various scales and complexities to different generations, as far as human history can stretch. Over this period, the demands and expectations from the profession have increased. At the dawn of 20th century the expectations from the profession was articulated, defined and encapsulated in...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of applying Petri nets to improve construction material logistics analysis and modelling. Design/methodology/approach The characteristics of construction logistics are unveiled by analysing the existing practices of logistics management. In views of the dynamic nature of construction lo...

: The application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector has evolved over several years. Organisations continue to invest in ICT in their bid to harness technology and streamline business processes. However, construction organisations continue to experience perennial problems...

This paper identifies key performance indicators (KPI) for infrastructure delivery and maps computational methods required to achieve sustainability objectives in developing countries. It builds on previous research that developed taxonomy of infrastructure sustainability indicators and computational methods, to propose an analytical decision model...

This paper uses the open systems metaphor to propose advanced information and communications technology (ICT) and distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) techniques that would enhance distributed collaborative working in construction organisations. The metaphor views a construction organisation as a group of cooperating (and sometimes competitive...

Many R&D projects aim at developing Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) systems for enhancing productivity and performance levels in certain operations within specific segments of construction supply chains e.g. for improved collaborative design management, enhanced material control systems, and streamlined communications management. It is p...

The process of translating strategic sustainability objectives into concrete action at project-specific levels is a difficult task. The multi-dimensional perspectives of sustainability such as economy, society, environment, combined with a lack of structured methodology and information at various hierarchical levels, further exacerbate the problem....

This paper discusses project-level sustainability assessment using the sustainability KPIs, mathematical models and computational methods discussed in part 1. It uses a real infrastructure project for the case study in sustainability appraisal, focusing on the design stage. The paper demonstrates the computation of sustainability index of design op...

The application of information and communication technology (ICT) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector has evolved over several years. However, although organisations invest in ICT in their bid to harness technology and streamline business processes for improved project management, they continue to experience problems that...

Design professionals are increasingly faced with challenges to produce innovative designs that are durable and give good value for money to clients. However, durability is impinged upon by the interaction of different factors such as construction materials, construction method, quality systems in use at the construction stages, environmental exposu...

This paper proposes a service-oriented framework and architecture for integrated sustainability knowledge management in construction. The proposed architecture is based on a survey conducted amongst industry professionals in Hong Kong SAR. The objective was to identify problem areas in infrastructure design and construction management practice as t...

In today’s highly competitive construction business environments, there is a dire need for information and communication infrastructure that enhances business operations by allowing organisations to extend information access and processing capabilities using multiple channels. This paper reports the development of an information and communication t...

This book describes current advances and future directions in the theory and application of intelligent agents and multi-agent systems in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector. It is the product of an international effort involving a network of construction IT and computing researchers, investigating different aspects of agent...

This paper reports on research that investigated perceptions and prioritization of key performance indicators (KPI) for infrastructure sustainability, from a cross section of construction industry stakeholders in Hong Kong and Republic of South Africa. The results show that although there is general agreement on the indicators, there are noticeable...

Ontologies are the foundation on which knowledge-intensive problem solvers depend. Ontologies encapsulate domain concepts, tasks, problem-solving knowledge, and methods. This paper reports on a research project on ontology development for constructability assessment in steel frame structures. It discusses the conceptualisation and formal knowledge...

Effective knowledge management is increasingly considered as a cornerstone of sustainable business success. Knowledge management systems are strategically valuable for both ensuring consistency and continuous improvement of various aspects such as quality delivery, productivity and competitiveness. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the con...

Diverse construction project stakeholders demand “fully-informed” and well-balanced decisions that target multiple objectives appropriately. This paper introduces initiatives into the development of a cluster of information and communication technology-artificial intelligence supported empowerment systems and sub-systems. Examples presented include...

This paper describes the use of interviewing techniques to understand problem solving and the development of knowledge models for automated constructability assessment. Interviews were conducted with domain experts who had several years of experience in design, fabrication and construction of steel structures, and project management. Deep knowledge...

Despite increasing numbers of Joint Ventures (JVs) between construction organisations, sustainable technology transfers (TTs) have rarely been achieved. These JVs may be between consultants, or between contractors. Furthermore, they may be between (a) overseas and local organisations, or (b) large-scale and small & medium enterprises (LSEs and SMEs...

Negotiation is an important stage in construction claims management process. Unfortunately, most construction claims negotiations are conducted inefficiently due to various reasons. The recent development of multi-agent systems provides an innovative approach to facilitating various negotiations. This research has developed a multi-agent system for...

There is an emerging consensus amongst construction IT researchers that success in adapting and implementing IT will be predicated on the readiness and willingness of construction sector organizations to innovate their working practices and construction process to meet the challenges of the knowledge-based economy. However, there is little focus in...

This paper is a review of intelligent agents with respect to their use within the Agent-Based Support for The Collaborative Design of Light Industrial Buildings (ADLIB) project. In the ADLIB project, the core objective is to develop a multi-agent system (MAS) framework for the representation of activities and processes involved in collaborative des...

Negotiation is an important stage in construction claims management process. Unfortunately, most construction claims negotiations are conducted inefficiently due to various reasons. The recent development of multi-agent systems provides an innovative approach to facilitating various negotiations. This research has developed a multi-agent system for...

This paper uses the open systems metaphor to propose advanced information ond communications technology (ICT) and distributed artificialintelligence (DAI) techniques that ’Iauld enhance distributed collaborative working In construction organisations. The metaphor views a construction organisation as a group of cooperating (and sometimes competitive...

Current solutions to agent development focus on using modal logic to program cognitive models of the problem solving process. Such solutions are often underpinned by the domain ontology and the programmatic solution involves equipping the agent(s) with the domain knowledge, which are expressed in terms of actions (primitive tasks), their pre-condit...

Resource selection/optimization problems are often characterized by two related problems: numerical function and combinatorial optimization. Although techniques ranging from classical mathematical programming to knowledge-based expert systems (KBESs) have been applied to solve the function optimization problem, there still exists the need for impro...

Negotiation is an important approach for agents to co-operate and reach agreement in multiagent systems (MAS). Different negotiation theories and models have been deployed in a variety of applications. This paper is concerned with the applicability of these theories to the domain of agent-based construction claims negotiation. The peculiarities of...

Resource selection/optimization problems are often characterized by two related problems: numerical function and combinatorial optimization. Although techniques ranging from classical mathematical programming to knowledge-based expert systems (KBESs) have been applied to solve the function optimization problem, there still exists the need for impro...

The construction industry has a long tradition of collaborative working between the members of a construction project team. At the design stage, this has traditionally been based on physical meetings between representatives of the principal design disciplines. To aid these meetings, the information and communications technologies that are currently...

The advent of e-commerce is revolutionising the way individuals and businesses procure goods and services. There has been tremendous growth in the so-called ''Business-to-Customer'' (B2C) transactions, with the most significant impact on business processes expected to be made by ''Business-to- Business'' (B2B) transactions. While other industry sec...

Disputes are now considered endemic in the construction industry. They often arise from the poor resolution of claims in the course of construction projects. Efforts have been geared towards reducing the incidence of claims. These efforts are of two kinds: those that seek answers from basic principles and legal issues at the pre-construction phase...

Domain ontologies facilitate sharing and re-use of data and knowledge between distributed collaborating systems. A major problem in the design and application of intelligent systems is to capture and understand: the data and information model that describes the domain; the various levels of knowledge associated with problem solving; and the pattern...