Current Research Interests
General: Construction Engineering and Management
Specific: Construction Equipment, Construction Safety, Multi-Attribute Decision Making
Additional: Information Technology in Construction, Project Management, Project Planning
Research Grants
1/07-12/07: “Three dimensional information for safety management of tower cranes” (2012937), S. Filin and A. Shapira Co-PIs, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
1/07-12/07: “Potential to enhance productivity in public construction through industrialization using Lean principles” (2006970), R. Sacks PI, A. Shapira Co-PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
10/05–9/06: “Specification and design of fiber reinforced bridge deck forms for use on wide flange T-girders”, L. C. Bank PI, J. S. Russell and M. G. Oliva Co-PIs, A. Shapira and A. Bentur Consultants (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Wisconsin Highway Research Program, WisDOT (Wisconsin Department of Transportation).
1/04–12/06: “Development of indices for safety hazard evaluation of construction sites with tower cranes” (017-740, 017-743, 017-744), A. Shapira PI, Manof Fund (for safety and hygiene at the workplace), National Insurance Institute of Israel (Bitu’ah Le’umi).
1/04–8/04: “Development of systematic process and practical model for optimal selection of equipment for construction projects” (017-730), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
6/03–11/03: “Rational selection of shoring towers” (017-657), A. Shapira PI, Department of Public Works (MA’AZ), Israel Ministry of Transportation.
10/99–9/00: “Work inputs, outputs, and costs of shoring towers in high-clearance construction” (017-607), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
11/98–10/99: “Implementation of the new Israeli standard on formwork for concrete” (017-608), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing, and Association of Contractors and Builders in Israel.
5/97–4/98: “Employing mobile cranes for building construction” (017-572), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
1/96–12/96: “Three-dimensional composite reinforcement for concrete: design and construction aspects” (017-553), A. Shapira and L. C. Bank Co-PIs, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
6/95–5/96: “Economic aspects of shoring towers in formwork for concrete” (017-547), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
4/92–12/93: “Intelligent system for design of shoring-towers-based formwork” (017-505), A. Shapira PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
4/92–3/93: “Evolution of construction planning throughout project life” (017-477b), A. Laufer PI, A. Shapira Co-PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
6/91–4/93: “Construction engineering laboratory” (6017-91), A. Shapira PI, Israel Cement Foundation.
1/92–12/92: “Reducing the duration of housing construction” (017-458b), A. Laufer and A. Shapira Co-PIs, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
4/91–3/92: “Construction planning: organizing the planning process with the aid of group decision support systems” (017-477a), A. Laufer PI, A. Shapira Co-PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
9/90–8/91: “Detection of major delay factors in conventional construction” (017-458a), A. Laufer and A. Shapira Co-PIs, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
4/88–3/89: “National databank for the construction industry” (790-723), A. Shapira and S. Selinger Co-PIs, Building Center of Israel.
4/85–3/86: “Rational design of formwork” (017-338), S. Selinger PI, A. Shapira Co-PI, Israel Ministry of Construction and Housing.
Foreign Personal Grants
8/93–9/94: Grant from the AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) Endowment, the New Mexico Branch, to teach, conduct research, and develop an educational base in the area of construction engineering and management at the University of New Mexico, Dept. of Civil Engineering.
8/89–7/90: Grant from the US Air Force Civil Engineering Support Agency, Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, for a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois (under contracts DACA88-88-D-0005 and DACA88-90-0044 with the US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois).
Significant Professional Projects
4/98-1/02: Development (with I. Mizrahi and Y. Rosenfeld) of a novel wireless and solar energy-based tower-crane-mounted operator vision-aid system for construction projects. The system, allowing the crane operator to continuously view the theater of work, is aimed at enhancing work safety, improving productivity, reducing crane wear and tear, and curtailing construction costs. Prototypes were tested in Israel at a large and complex site with six tower cranes (“Grand Canyon”, Ardor Co., Haifa, 1998). First commercial system was installed October 1998. As of January 2002 nearly 40 systems have been in routine operation at over 60 projects constructed by major companies in Israel (inc. Solel Boneh, U. Dori, Danya Cebus, Malibu, A. Arenson, Aviv and Co., Moshkovitz, Z.M.H., Mordechai Aviv, Ashtrom, Cementcal, Minrav, Tidhar), servicing, among others, the two tallest buildings at the time under construction in the country (“City Tower”, U. Dori, Ramat Gan, 1998–99, crane height: 170 m; “City Gate”, Aviv and Co., Ramat Gan, 1999–2000, crane height: 270 m). The system is modular and compatible with any crane model. Liebherr, a world-leading crane manufacturer (world market share: 30 percent), endorsed the system in April 2000. Development of “Euro” systems started July 2000; systems sustain harsh weather conditions (sub-zero temperatures, snow, frost), have optional overnight docking for battery recharging in addition to solar energy as power source, provide fully-computerized on-screen user-friendly interface, and conform to EU standards. Testing of Euro models on Liebherr cranes started at construction sites in Germany January 2001.
[Left: tower-crane mounted CTS operator-aid vision system serving the construction of the HypoVereinsbank building in the heart of downtown Munich, Germany; contractor: Alpine Bau (April 2001). The system was devised and developed by A. Shapira, Y. Rosenfeld, and I. Mizrahi; see “Significant Professional Projects” above. As of late 2009, the system has served in the construction of over 300 projects. For scientific background see this paper (PDF). For more details check this website: www.cranevision.com.]