A bibliometric analysis of immersive virtual environment applications for occupant comfort and behavior research

Abstract

A bibliometric analysis is conducted to systematically analyze research trends and opportunities in Virtual Reality (VR) and Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) applications to study indoor occupant comfort and behaviors in buildings. The methodology includes: (i) article search and selection; (ii) analysis of sources; and (iii) network analysis and mapping. Results show that research activities remain limited to a few institutions and researchers, with limited global representation. In addition, research trends in the past two decades evolved from focusing on fire safety to energy consumption, occupant perceptions, comfort, and behavior. Future research directions include multi-domain evaluations of occupant-building interactions.