Advanced Design and Modeling for Modular Construction

On-site construction methods are increasingly viewed as slow, inefficient, and bad for the environment. Modern modular construction on the other hand, using off-site manufacturing and on-site installation, solves inefficiencies in traditional construction methods, allowing buildings to be ready in days rather than months. It promises to transform construction into made-to-measure structural production off-site, as found in advanced manufacturing. However, civil infrastructure construction currently lags behind manufacturing industries that have already embraced advanced automated processes. Advanced Design for Modular Construction presents the latest research and best practice in design for advanced modular building construction. The book describes how three-dimensional structural units can be prefabricated, assembled and finished under factory conditions. The title consists in twelve chapters covering all aspects of modular construction, including lean methodologies and techniques; intermodal transportation of building modules; accelerated responses in road transportation; performance of non-structural, beam-column and column-column connections; transport of building modules; analyses of structural robustness and reliability in modular buildings; fire performance; and composites for modular construction. This book provides state-of-the-art, practical guidance for the design of modern modular construction, allowing the completion of an entire building system offsite, speeding up, optimizing and economizing the production of civil infrastructure using the most advanced automated manufacturing processes. Presents the state-of-the art in the design of advanced modular construction Demonstrates how efficiencies can be gained from using automated manufacturing processes for modular construction Shows how modular construction speeds up, optimizes, and economizes the production of civil infrastructure Envisions the pivoting of on-site construction toward off-site made-to-measure structural production Covers each aspect of modular construction, including manufacturing, transportation, and structural integrity and robustness