Yong Bai

• Ph.D.
• McShane Chair and Professor at Marquette University

This paper presents an innovative and fully automatic solution of generating as-built computer-aided design (CAD) drawings for landscape architecture (LA) with three dimensional (3D) reality data scanned via drone, camera, and LiDAR. To start with the full pipeline, 2D feature images of ortho-image and elevation-map are converted from the reality d...

Vertical displacement is a common concrete slab sidewalk deficiency, which may cause trip hazards and reduce wheelchair accessibility. This paper presents an automatic approach for trip hazard detection and mapping based on deep learning. A low-cost mobile LiDAR scanner was used to obtain full-width as-is conditions of sidewalks, after which a meth...

This paper presents an automated as-is façade modeling method for existing and historic high-rise buildings, named Scan4Façade. To begin with, a camera drone with a spiral path is employed to capture building exterior images, and photogrammetry is used to conduct three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and create mesh models for the scanned building...

This paper presents a time-and cost-effective elevation determination method for earthwork operations using ready-to-fly imaging drones and deep learning technologies. The proposed method is named the fast pixel grid/group matching and elevation determination (Fast-PGMED) algorithm. The input data are a pair of approximate 2:1-scale top-view images...

Vertical displacement is a common concrete slab sidewalk deficiency, which may cause tripping hazards and reduce wheelchair accessibility. This paper presents an automated approach for trip hazard detection using a low-cost LiDAR scanner to obtain full-width as-is conditions of sidewalks. The scanned point cloud files were converted into orthoimage...

This paper presents an accurate and stable method for object and defect detection and visualization on building and infrastructural facilities. This method uses drones and cameras to collect three-dimensional (3D) point clouds via photogrammetry, and uses orthographic or arbitrary views of the target objects to generate the feature images of points...

This paper presents a 3D reconstruction method for fast elevation determination on construction sites. The proposed method is intended to automatically and accurately determine construction site elevations using drone-based, low-high orthoimage pairs. This method requires fewer images than other methods for covering a large target area of a constru...

This paper presents the research results of using Google Earth imagery for visual condition surveying of highway pavement in the United States. A screenshot tool is developed to automatically track the highway for collecting end-to-end images and Global Position System (GPS). A highway segmentation tool based on a deep convolutional neural network...

Image-based 3D-reconstruction techniques, such as drone photogrammetry, have been adopted to various construction operations. The challenge is determining the construction site elevation, which is the vertical distance from the ground to the camera, in real-time. This paper presents the research results of using two frame drone-based ortho-images t...

Three-dimensional (3D) surveying of a construction site using an image-based method may produce incorrect ground elevation results at vegetation-covered regions, because the light rays are reflected on the surface of vegetation in front of the “truth” ground. This paper presents a convolutional neural network (CNN) method to identify and locate sta...

Using deep learning to recover depth information from a single image has been studied in many situations, but there are no published articles related to the determination of construction site elevations. This paper presents the research results of developing and testing a deep learning model for estimating construction site elevations using a drone...

In a design-bid-build infrastructural project, the agency may use a lump-sum, or unit-price for temporary traffic control (TTC) items, while their cost is hard to estimate. This paper presents the research results of developing a machine learning model of the relationship between the TTC items’ cost with the project total cost and non-TTC items in...

Design-Bid-Build infrastructure projects with Unit-Price Contracts have a high risk of quantity and price deviations. Those deviations might be the result of contractors' unbalanced bidding. At the same time, contractors' performance was unknown under unbalanced bidding situations. The researchers utilized the First Order Reliability Method and Sta...

The concept of utilizing networks of roads and highways for generating electricity has recently gained considerable attention; advances in the nanotechnology industry offer new opportunities for large-scale improvements in energy efficiency and energy production. In this field, Piezoelectric (PZ) energy harvesting technology has significant advanta...

Portable changeable message signs (PCMSs) have been employed in highway work zones as temporary traffic control devices. Various studies showed that adding graphics to PCMS messages can provide advantages to traditional text messages, such as increasing legibility and improving the understanding of elderly drivers. This article synthesizes the find...

Because of the growing demand for local skilled professionals to improve the health, energy efficiency, and sustainability of residential and commercial buildings in North Dakota, this case study reports the current situation of higher education relating to buildings in the state's vicinity, including Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dak...

The accurate measurement of labor productivity data can mean the difference between the success and failure of a building construction project. Due to the sheer diversity and complexity of international building construction practices, minimal research has been performed on comparative labor productivity between countries. In this paper, the author...

Governments usually guarantee the amount of investment income to private sector partners to encourage their participation in Public-Private Partnership urban infrastructure development projects, with the ‘float return on investment guarantee’ being the main method in use by the Chinese government today. The current problems with the float return on...

When E-Commerce and building information modeling can be used together, it will produce a new mode of self-help house decoration. This paper systematically analyses the disadvantages of the traditional house decoration and introduces the self-help house decoration mode, including its implementation process and structure framework. Than it analyses...

Earthmoving operations in urban bridge reconstruction projects are analyzed to identify significant factors that impact relatively low productivity. The research project was conducted in the urban interchange reconstruction of Interstate Highway 235 (I-235) in Des Moines, Iowa. By using observational studies and a statistical analysis method, the f...

This paper discusses a research project to develop a "knowledge-based information system for construction cost estimating and scheduling" (KISCCES). To accomplish the goal, researchers developed a prototype project management system that can produce pictorial data for all involved parties, and cost and schedule in a nearly real-time basis. The scop...

To meet the large demands for infrastructure and public facilities in the rapid urbanization process, the Chinese government has issued a series of regulations for promoting private investments and participations. Among different applications of private investment, build-transfer (BT) method was widely explored for not-for-profit infrastructure and...

Graphic-aided, portable, changeable message sign(PCMS) is an innovative, temporary traffic control device that has been proven in recent studies to improve drivers' response more effectively than the traditional text-based PCMSs. This study investigated the impact of drivers' gender and age on their acceptance of using graphic-aided PCMSs in highwa...

During the opening and reforming process of Chinese construction industry，both domestic and overseas scholars have been concentrating on research of Chinese construction issues and published a series of journal papers. It has not only promoted the communication between domestic and overseas construction industries，but also provided valuable suggest...

Both China and the United States of America are heavily investing in higher education which plays an important role in the sustainable development of economy. Due to differences between eastern and western cultures and education principles， curriculums and teaching styles are quite different in these two countries. Chinese scholars have studied Ame...

The Labor Working Status Monitoring (LWSM) Model that incorporates the WRITE and the industry benchmark data was developed through the five steps to enhance labor producitivty in bridge construction operations. The first step of the development process was to conduct a literature review, followed by the second step which was to develop the WRITE. D...

Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation on the development of the Chinese construction industry after the Cultural Revolution in terms of administration framework, economic growth, and market structure, with the consideration of Chinese currency inflation. The development was divided into three stages based on Chinese governmen...

Not only does freight transportation use a large percentage of America's resources but also contributes significantly to its share of carbon emissions and affects the safety of the transportation system and all its users. These problems are expected to increase as the volume of freight transportation is already reaching the limits of the transporta...

Truck-related crashes contribute to a significant percentage of vehicle crashes in the work zones, which often result in injuries and fatalities. To mitigate the risk of truck-related crashes and develop effective safety countermeasures, a study on truckrelated crashes between 2000 and 2008 in Kansas highway work zones was conducted. Results of the...

Portable changeable message signs (PCMSs) have been employed in highway work zones for decades. Results of previous research indicated that the traditional textbased PCMSs had several limitations. The advanced sign technology has now allowed the use of graphics on PCMSs, and many researchers have studied drivers' responses to graphics on PCMSs usin...

Bridge construction has been closely monitored by government agencies, engineering and construction communities, and the general public. Previous research results show that to enhance the bridge construction operations there is a need to develop innovative technologies to improve communication and coordination among the participants involved in the...

To enhance the efficiency of bridge construction, the wireless real-time video monitoring system (WRITE) was developed. Uti-lizing the advanced technologies of computer vision and artificial neural networks, the developed system first wirelessly acquired a sequence of images of work-face operations. Then human pose analyzing algorithms processed th...

Improving the quality of construction schedules calls for development of an advanced productivity measurement system. Existing on-site construction productivity measurement methods have some common limitations, such as not providing data necessary for engineers and project managers to conduct real-time analyses and share data with other project par...

Despite the difficulties of the American economy in recent years the transportation sector continues to expand. Freight transportation alone has been projected to increase enormously even if the economy as a whole only manages a very moderate growth. Not only does freight transportation use a large percentage of resources but it contributes signifi...

Truck-related crashes constitute a major safety concern for government agencies, the construction industry, and the traveling public. Due to the rising needs in highway maintenance and construction, the number of work zones is increasing throughout the United States, while at the same time freight movement using trucks is also increasing nationwide...

Traffic safety is a major concern in the temporary one-lane, two-way highway work zones due to the increasing of construction and maintenance operations. To prevent rear-end crashes and to mitigate the severity of these crashes caused by the inattentive driving, the utilization of the Emergency Flasher Traffic Control Device (EFTCD) was under consi...

One of the major barriers to advancing the competitiveness of sustainable construction in the U.S. market is that "traditional" construction firms do not have accurate data on labor productivity for sustainable construction projects. This negatively impacts their ability to reliably estimate a construction project's schedule and cost. Due to the na...

A common and extended Petri net simulation framework for virtual construction of earthmoving operations is developed to simulate dynamic changes of workflow and information flow in the earthmoving construction process and illustrate the constraint relationship between various operational equipment and construction restrictions. The proposed framewo...

It is widely acknowledged that there is an increasing problem in maintenance of the American civil infrastructure. Highways, bridges, sewers, railroads, harbors, and public buildings built in the 1950s and 1960s are wearing out, while inflation-adjusted federal spending on infrastructure has fallen. The current situation, with respect to highway br...

This research was conducted to determine how best to incorporate portable rumble strips into traffic control plans for short-term work zones. One objective of the research was to provide guidance on how existing traffic control plans could be amended to include provisions for the evaluated devices. This research focused on rumble strips that were c...

In light of the fact that construction projects are expensive, complex, and time-consuming undertakings, a well-written contract that specifies each participant's duties and obligations is required. Furthermore, a well-written contract with regard to business practice differences between the United States and China is unquestionably needed by Ameri...

One of the main entry barriers faced by U.S. construction firms for entering the booming Chinese construction market is the acquisition of accurate labor productivity data in China. The accuracy of labor productivity data can mean the difference between the success or failure of the construction projects. Due to the sheer diversity and complexity o...

For decades, the importance of highway work zone safety has increased considerably with the continual increase in the number of highway work zones present on highways for repairs and expansion. Rural work zones on two-lane highways are particularly hazardous and cause a significant safety concern due to the disruption of regular traffic flow. In th...

Kansas is one of the leaders in meat production in the United States. In the southwest Kansas region, there are more than three hundred feed yards and several of the biggest meat processing plants in the nation. Heavy trucks (e.g., tractor-trailers) have been used primarily for transporting processed meat, meat byproducts, grain, and other related...

Numerous factors may contribute to high-severity crashes in highway work zones. Identifying these factors and then allevi-ating their impact is a challenging task that traffic engineers and researchers have to confront. In this study, the work zone risk factors that could increase the probability of causing fatalities when severe crashes occur were...

Existing construction productivity measurement techniques are not capable of providing the real-time productivity data to project managers and engineers for analyses and sharing the data among participants involved in construction operations. As a result, actions to address the on-site productivity problems cannot be taken just in time. To address...

To enhance the capability of rapid construction, an automated on-site productivitymeasurement system is developed. Employing the concepts of Computer Vision andArtificial Intelligence, the developed system wirelessly acquires a sequence of imagesof construction activities. The system first processes these images in real-time to generate human poses...

To overcome the limitations of existing on-site construction productivity measurement techniques, a wireless real-time productivity measurement (WRITE) system was developed. Major components of the WRITE system include a digital camera, a video camera, a data processor, an AC transformer, a computer, and wireless modems. Researchers developed the f...

In the United States, hundreds of people lose their lives each year and many more are injured due to vehicle crashes in the work zones. Over the years, temporary traffic control (TCC) measures have been developed and deployed in work zones. To continuously improve the safety, there is a need to identify the traffic control deficiencies in work zone...

Flagger-controlled work zones are often in place for only a short duration, so adding protection beyond the minimum guidance is rarely done. Several vendors have begun marketing devices equipped with various technologies. While a wide variety of studies have been undertaken to evaluate the technology- enhanced flagger devices, there has been little...

The southwest Kansas region is one of the centers in the United States for the production of processed beef and related industries. Trucks utilized to support these industries cause noteworthy damages to the regional highway pavements. The objective of this research project was to determine the pavement damage cost of a typical highway section in s...

Increased attention has been paid to the highway bridges, one of the critical components of the nation's transportation network, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami in South Asia. To enhance the capability of rapid bridge replacement after extreme events, a real- time productivity measurement system...

Due to the rising needs in highway maintenance and construction, the number of work zones is increasing nationwide. Highway work zones disrupt normal traffic flow and create safety problems. There were a total of 1,010 fatalities and more than 40,000 injuries in the United States in 2006. Even though there are some countermeasures developed to impr...

Highway work zones interrupt regular traffic flows and create safety problems. Improving safety without sacrificing the main function of highways is a challenging task that traffic engineers and researchers have to confront. In this study, the concept of using crash severity index (CSI) for work zone safety evaluation was proposed and a set of CSI...

Highway construction zone safety has been a research focus in many countries for many decades. In the United States, regardless of the research efforts devoted, highway construction zones remain a seri-ous safety concern for government agencies, legislatures, the highway industry, and the traveling pub-lic. In this study, the fatal and injury accid...

Purpose The potential threats of extreme events to highway bridges have received increased attention from government agencies, the engineering and construction communities, and the traveling public. These events include terrorist attacks as well as human‐induced and natural hazards such as earthquakes, explosions, fires, floods, and hurricanes. To...