Doctoral Dissertations

Keywords and Phrases

Airport Projects; Contractual Affairs; Infrastructure Projects; Project Delivery Methods; Project Management; Risk Management

Abstract

The airport sector plays a vital role in the US infrastructure. Neglecting the maintenance and improvement of such critical domain poses serious repercussions. Current initiatives within the aviation sector have fallen short in providing substantial quantitative or qualitative support for comprehensive project and risk management processes. This research fills this knowledge gap. The associated objectives include: (1) identifying a holistic set of Design-Build risk factors and providing associated research recommendations; (2) enhancing the understanding of Design-Build (DB) with respect to Design-Bid-Build (DBB) on key risks impacting schedule/cost performance in airport projects; (3) establishing a risk-based benchmarking framework to evaluate schedule/cost performance through utilizing DB versus DBB in airport projects; (4) developing a data-driven model for predicting substantial contractual changes in airport projects; and, (5) computationally investigating the key combinations of dispute causes in airport litigation cases. Variety of techniques – comprising social network analysis, industry expert survey, mathematical risk modeling, advanced machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and association rule mining – were utilized. To this end, these analytical methods provided valuable insights and frameworks that support the current body of DB knowledge, the utilization of DB versus DBB implementation, as well as the improved use of change and dispute management in airport construction projects. Ultimately, this research empowers the airport sector and knowledgebase with improved understanding and guidelines, positioning it at the forefront of efficient project de livery and excellence within the construction industry.

Advisor(s)

El-adaway, Islam H.

Committee Member(s)

Abdelrahman, Magdy
Long, Suzanna, 1961-
Schonberg, William P.
Showalter, W. Eric

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Civil Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Fall 2026

Pagination

xii, 250pages

Note about bibliography

Includes_bibliographical_references_(pages 218-249)

Rights

© 2026 Ramy Ahmed Anwar Ahmed Khalef , All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12641

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