A Continuous Flow Simulation Model for Probability Repetitive Projects

Continuous flow is one of the main focuses of scheduling repetitive projects. Construction practitioners and researchers have proposed approaches to maintain continuous flows. However, many of these approaches only consider deterministic activity durations or have some other methodological limitations. Accordingly, a continuous flow simulation model is presented in this paper in order to overcome aforementioned limitations. The proposed model integrates simulation and buffering to consider the probability of activities durations and for proper sizing of buffers. Instead of having the same activity duration distribution on different units as is common, the proposed model allows for different activity duration distribution between units. The proposed model is tested and validated on a case study and the results show that the model can provide practical contributions in scheduling that effectively maintain continuous flow for probability repetitive project. Possible further research directions in this regard are also discussed in the paper.