This study investigates the mechanisms underlying quality loss and compensation in dam concrete construction from both managerial and technical perspectives, presenting an innovative approach to quality control. The primary contribution of this research lies in the integration of characteristic functions into the Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT), facilitating the development of a quality gain-loss transmission network and enabling network parameter analysis. Additionally, models for identifying and predicting critical paths and processes have been developed. A case study focusing on quality control during the summer construction phase of a hydropower project was conducted to validate the proposed model's effectiveness and rationale. This study aims to offer valuable insights and make a significant contribution to technical advancements in quality control for dam concrete construction.

In order to address project delays caused by uncertain factors in the construction project schedule management process, a new method for calculating the size of critical chain buffers is proposed. Taking into account process uncertainty and based on the GERT network, the correction process and duration of different logical processes are provided to transform the uncertain network into a deterministic one. By combining the critical chain management method and information entropy theory to assess the impact of increasing uncertainty in the merging process on the critical chain buffer, a calculation model for the critical chain buffer size based on the GERT network is established and analyzed using a numerical example. The feasibility and effectiveness of the model are verified through an example, demonstrating its ability to reduce project risks and shorten the construction period while ensuring a high probability of project completion.