A combined scientometric and conventional literature review to grasp the entire BIM knowledge and its integration with energy simulation

Abstract

This paper presents an up to date overview of the principal research topics and research trends within the Building Information Model (BIM) research domain. It also offers a detailed review of the integration of BIM and Building Energy Performance Simulation (BEPS). The different strategies to improve interoperability are reviewed together with the various applications of such an integration (BIM with BEPS) in the literature.Firstly, a scientometric analysis which allows identifying research patterns and emerging trends in a specific research domain is performed to categorise the large number of articles constituting BIM literature into several clusters, each representing a particular topic. The main research topic in each cluster, together with the chronological progress and evolution of each cluster are summarized through a literature review of the selected highly cited articles.Secondly, an analysis of the different aspects relevant to the integration of BIM with BEPS is performed to highlight the evolution of the interoperability between BIM and energy simulation tools. Subsequently, a review of the different applications of such integration (BIM with BEPS) is performed to identify potential knowledge gaps.This study highlights six main BIM research topics focusing on BIM adoption and benefits, BIM-aided management, progress monitoring and as-built modelling, interoperability, life cycle analysis and energy simulation. It also emphasises the lack of well-established strategies to ensure the interoperability between BIM and energy simulation tools. Furthermore, this study reports on the poor integration of BIM and BEPS for building system and control modelling as well as its limited application during the operational phase.