4D Simulation Research in Construction: A Systematic Mapping Study

This paper proposes a systematic literature review (SLR) of the referenced research on 4D simulation in the construction industry. It uses the community structure method and modularity optimization techniques to propose a mapping of the research efforts dedicated to 4D simulation in construction. A total of 674 normalized keywords from 386 publications are analyzed, providing a new perspective of the keywords’ co-occurrences, clusters and communities. The evolution of the terminology over time and the communities of authors addressing this domain are also analyzed. The analysis of the keywords identifies the relationships between some big players (i.e., “Building information modeling”, “4D CAD”, “Virtual design and construction”, “Scheduling”, “Simulation”, “Critical path method” and “Software engineering”); each of these keywords leading a specific community, with a total of seven communities identified and analyzed. The research provides a new perspective on the main subjects of interest. Amongst other findings, the analysis of the evolution of the terminology shows how the use of the “4D CAD” keyword started declining around 2014 with the rise of the “4D BIM” keyword. Regarding the analysis of the authors’ communities, the total number of authors is 721, with a total of 1127 links, showing that while multiple authors have been working on 4D-related subjects, only a few communities of authors account for most of the activity.