Design for Project Change Management: Part 1 — Configuration Design

A new systematic approach to identify the optimal design configuration and attributes to minimize potential construction project changes is introduced in this research. The first part of this paper focuses on the configuration design aspect. In this research, the relations between design configurations and construction tasks are modeled by axiomatic design matrices. The design configuration that is most independent to the construction tasks is identified based upon the axiomatic design approach. In addition, estimation of potential project change cost due to the potential design configuration changes is also discussed. Case studies in pipeline engineering design and construction have been conducted to show the effectiveness of the introduced approach.