Adoption of Blockchain Technology through Digital Twins in the Construction Industry 4.0: A PESTELS Approach

Benjamin Teisserenc,Samad Sepasgozar

doi:10.3390/buildings11120670

Abstract

The key challenges of the building, engineering, construction, operations, and mining (BECOM) industries are the lack of trust, inefficiencies, and the fragmentation of the information value chain into vulnerable data silos throughout the lifecycle of projects. This paper aims to develop a novel conceptual model for the implementation of blockchain technology (BCT) for digital twin(s) (DT) in the BECOM industry 4.0 to improve trust, cyber security, efficiencies, information management, information sharing, and sustainability. A PESTELS approach is used to review the literature and identify the key challenges affecting BCT adoption for the BECOM industry 4.0. A review of the technical literature on BCT combined with the findings from PESTELS analysis permitted researchers to identify the key technological factors affecting BCT adoption in the industry. This allowed offering a technological framework—namely, the decentralized digital twin cycle (DDTC)—that leverages BCT to address the key technological factors and to ultimately enhance trust, security, decentralization, efficiency, traceability, and transparency of information throughout projects’ lifecycles. The study also identifies the gaps in the integration of BCT with key technologies of industry 4.0, including the internet of things (IoT), building information modeling (BIM), and DT. The framework offered addresses key technological factors and narrows key gaps around network governance, scalability, decentralization, interoperability, energy efficiency, computational requirements, and BCT integration with IoT, BIM, and DT throughout projects’ lifecycles. The model also considers the regulatory aspect and the environmental aspect, and the circular economy (CE). The theoretical framework provides key technological building blocks for industry practitioners to develop the DDTC concept further and implement it through experimental works. Finally, the paper provides an industry-specific analysis and technological approach facilitating BCT adoption through DT to address the key challenges and improve sustainability for the BECOM industry 4.0.

Highlights

IntroductionThe BECOM Industry, as one of the largest industries in the world, faces key challenges such as decreasing productivity over the last decades compared to other manufacturing industries [1]
The three objectives were to identify the challenges of the BECOM industry 4.0 affecting blockchain technology (BCT) adoption, evaluate the key technological factors affecting the adoption of BCT, and propose a conceptual model facilitating the integration of BCT and digital twin(s) (DT) for projects of the BECOM industry 4.0
The originality of this paper comprises the proposed technological framework based on a novel conceptual model called the decentralized digital twin cycle (DDTC)

Summary

Introduction

The BECOM Industry, as one of the largest industries in the world, faces key challenges such as decreasing productivity over the last decades compared to other manufacturing industries [1]. There are inefficiencies in the construction supply chain and rework due to miscommunication and inaccurate or inaccessible information, and this cost around $31 billion in the US construction industry in 2018 [5]. The industry’s slower digitization [1] is due to short-term thinking, uncertainty, fragmentation of the supply chain, lack of R&D investments, and a rigid culture regarding organizational and process changes [2]. Short-term thinking is, less critical in the mining industry, where projects can last for decades

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