A system boundary-based critical review on crane selection in building construction

This study presented a system boundary-based review to systematically investigate the existing research on crane selection in building construction. The system boundary model comprised 9 boundary elements, namely year, location, research source, project height, project typology, crane type, selection constraint, selection criteria, and selection method. Three detailed analyses were carried out with reference to the boundary elements. Firstly, distribution analysis reflected an increasing research trend in crane selection worldwide. Secondly, regression analysis, considering 25 real cases, indicated that tower crane is better suited for high-rise building construction. Thirdly, systematic analysis identified a total of 19 constraints, 71 criteria, and 8 methods adopted for crane selection. Subsequently, the relationships between crane selection constraints and criteria were revealed. Furthermore, this study disclosed the selection differences between tower and mobile cranes, and the best practices in crane type and model selection. The main future research opportunities include i) using advanced AI technologies for crane type selection; ii) developing simulation models for tower crane model selection; iii) establishing a hybrid method for crane selection; and iv) extending the selection considerations to a larger spatio-temporal and functional scope. [Display omitted] •Conducted a critical review of crane selection research via a system boundary based model.•Identified a total of 19 constraints, 70 criteria, and 8 methods for crane selection.•Illuminated the differences between tower crane and mobile crane selection.•Explored the best practices for crane selection by cluster analysis.•Highlighted 4 research trends and 4 research opportunities.