This study aims to address the persistent inefficiencies and inconsistent outcomes in construction project duration delay disputes. It seeks to develop an intelligent decision-support model using case-based reasoning (CBR) to systematically extract and reuse experiential knowledge from historical judicial judgments.
This study adopts a CBR methodology. First, judicial judgments in China were systematically collected and structured to establish a comprehensive case library of construction delay disputes. Second, three-element attributes were identified to systematically represent each case. Third, the study introduced a two-level retrieval mechanism to screen similar cases and optimized the similarity calculation method. Finally, the proposed CBR model was validated using an actual mediation case.
This study proposed a CBR model as a structured framework for resolving construction delay disputes. A case library comprising 312 construction delay dispute judgments from China Judgments Online was constructed. Based on the historical cases, a three-element case representation framework encompassing delay causes, dispute attributes, and adjudication outcomes was established. A hybrid similarity measurement method integrating distinct local similarity functions for symbolic, numerical, and ordinal attributes was developed. The model was validated both feasible and effective.
This study contributes to the advancement of intelligent dispute resolution by providing a structured pathway for experience mining and knowledge reuse. It also offers methodological guidance for reducing transaction costs and improving efficiency of construction delay dispute resolution.
