Mitigating Risks In International Construction Projects Based A Meta-network Analysis

International Construction Projects(ICP)have been paying increasing attention to integrated project management.With the development of new technology,the importance of the Building Information Model(BIM)integrated management is increasing.However,the current understanding of the interaction mechanism between different risks of ICPs is insufficient,and thus the risk management in construction sites is not well-integrated.Although the BIM has been introduced into ICPs,the role of BIM functions in ICPs' risk management is still not clear.Therefore,a need to determine which BIM functions that can effectively mitigate which ICP risks.Accordingly,this study aims to understand ICP-based BIM risk mitigation integration from the perspective of the multi-level complex network theory and to theoretically supplement a new perspective to consider the risk interrelation and risk mitigation strategy for ICPs.First,this study combs the relevant research on ICP risk,risk management methods,and the BIM functions in risk management and arrives at the research objectives through a cross-systematic review.It also identifies the evaluation indicators of ICP risks and BIM functions.Second,it establishes a risk structure matrix based on the interaction between risks assessed by the Delphi questionnaire method.It then imports the risk matrix of the quantitative evaluation into the meta-network analysis tool(ORA-Net Scence),then analyzes the risk impact on project objectives,the interrelation between risks,and the effects of risk factors on risk from the network perspective.Based on the risk nodes and risk interaction intensity in the meta-network,critical,and significant risk relationships are identified.Finally,to achieve active risk integrated management of ICPs,this paper comprehensive risk management strategies are considered and combined the BIM with practical risk mitigation measures.The control values of the BIM and practical risk mitigation measures for ICP risk are also evaluated.Then,an appropriate set of risk mitigation strategies for BIM and practical risk mitigation is determined by solving the optimization model.For the particular risks of ICP,it is found that the practical risk mitigation cannot reduce the risks caused by language differences,cultural differences,regional and time differences,but these risks can be reduced through the BIM functions.Cause BIM can visually understand the exact location of risk information,improve risk communication and information management,and integrate stakeholders from different countries into the same platform and improve cooperation and communication.In the ICP risk meta-network,the result shows that the risk of cost overruns leads to an increase in not only material prices and safety accidents but also environmental damage by contractors themselves,which has a more significant impact on cost overruns.In additions,supplier price fluctuations have an indirect effect on government-related risks,because when supply price fluctuations occur,contractors may not be able to purchase the primary materials in time,which will lead to difficulties in obtaining relevant licenses from the local government.During risk mitigation meta-network,BIM can effectively mitigate the risk of design errors caused by linguistic differences in construction sites.However,risks such as political,economic,and social security can only be mitigated through practical risk mitigation measures such as a focus on the national risk index or environmental risk related-evaluations.So,in this paper provided some suggestions on the actual risk control of BIM.For example,political,exchange rate,and market risks in international engineering projects can be used to import data such as exchange rate information,global governance assessments,and World Bank World Investment Risk Reports into BIM platform in conjunction with cloud computing integration,when bidding,cost planning,or construction Plan for reference to prevent the risk of cost overruns.This paper integrated BIM and practical risk mitigation measures from the perspective of a complex network.Its theoretically supplements a new view considering the risk relationships,on the other hand,provides useful to improve project risk mitigation and integrated management when formulating project risk management for project sites.