Application of Linear Scheduling in Water Canal Construction with a Comparison of Critical Path Method

Critical path method (CPM) still remains the most commonly used scheduling technique, despite many studies confirming its shortcomings for scheduling repetitive construction projects. This research evaluated the case study of an alignment-based precast water canal erection project, which was originally planned with CPM and analysed the suitability of using linear scheduling method (LSM) for the same project. The case study project was scheduled using both CPM and LSM tools and the results were compared in terms of estimated total duration and resource cost. The results showed that LSM produced a saving of 10 days in total duration and 20.07% in estimated resource cost over CPM. LSM also proved to be the better tool in terms of other schedule attributes like resource assignment, levelling, visualisation, etc., for alignment-based projects. LSM can be highly efficient for scheduling different types of repetitive construction and offers benefits like better workflow and continuous resource usage.