Decision Support System for Building Materials Selection: Current Trends and Opportunities

One of the key issues in sustainable design and construction is the decision on the choice of building materials that meet the project objectives and standards, including cost, energy consumption, and environmental impacts. Decisions on the choice of building materials become more daunting because of the many available sustainable materials, and the interplay between their sustainable criteria. This paper provides a review of this problem and explores the current trends and opportunities for solving the problem. It proposes a more comprehensive framework for the integration of a decision support system (DSS) for materials selection into building information modeling (BIM). The unique component of the proposed framework is a holistic integration of cost, energy, carbon, and mechanical strength. The knowledge gap being addressed is twofold: (1) combination of sustainable design requirements with a principal mechanical property of materials, and (2) supplementing the existing limited studies on the subject. With the benefits that BIM offers in design and construction, its integration with a DSS can address the problem of materials selection while encouraging collaboration and coordination among project partners.