Case Studies of Statistical Analysis in Engineering

Abstract

Statistical analysis finds a wide range of applications in scientific research, management, finance, and engineering. In this article, we aim at shedding some light on the significance of two tools of statistical analysis, namely ANOVA and regression, in civil (including environmental), mechanical, and architectural engineering disciplines through a short survey of recent research studies that utilized these tools to reach important engineering models or rules of interest to engineers for design or development. The studies represent diverse areas of traffic planning, residential energy, indoor air quality, and high-speed machining. We briefly present some sample selection rules and analysis outcomes in these studies.

An Approach to the Analysis of Causes of Delays in Industrial Construction Projects through Planning and Statistical Computing

“…According to the data obtained in the table above, the mean delays in the completion of activities differed. It can therefore be concluded that there were statistically significant differences between the projects with respect to the delay variable, since F(4.5140) = 274.3 (not equal to 1), with p < 0.05 (2 × 10 −16 ) [54,61]. This was the expected result, given the non-uniform nature of the projects and their source data.…”

“…The following results were obtained with weighted variables as shown in Table 7. In this model, the p-values that help to resolve these contrasts were in both cases, 2 × 10 −16 , a value less than 0.05 [54,55]. Thus, considering a significance level of 5%, the null hypothesis would be rejected in both cases, concluding that there was a linear relationship between the variables.…”

“…The value of R 2 (Multiple R-squared) ranged between 0 and 1 [36,54], so values close to 1 indicated a good fit of the linear model to the data. In this case, 30.53% of all variability related to the delay in the completion of Mechanical Construction activities can be explained by the delay of the predecessor.…”