Optimization of earthworks planning: a systematic mapping study

Abstract

This article presents a mapping study of the research on the optimization of earthmoving planning and operation. Its goal was to investigate relevant papers and characterize the field by identifying the most commonly explored topics, optimization techniques, and research trends. We applied a systematic review approach based on automatic searches and snowball sampling to select relevant papers on earthwork optimization. Our searches retrieved 5785 results, from which we selected 71 papers between 1958 and 2021. We found that allocation, fleet planning, routing, and scheduling problems were the most commonly investigated topics, and linear programming, mixed-integer linear programming, and genetic algorithms were the most usually used optimization techniques. We also observed that most models that considered construction factors reported improvements in construction budgets or hauling plans. However, we found few studies that demonstrated the impact optimization after the preconstruction stage or presented the advantages of optimization for reducing environmental impacts.