Digital twins a digital transformation for management of the construction industry

Abstract

In recent years technologies have been transforming working relationships in the construction industry. To dynamize the sector, new ways are sought to obtain better control over its lifecycle. The goals are to achieve cost savings, improvement in the quality of services, greater security and less environmental impact. Important information, to reach such goals, is generated during the project, the construction, the use/upkeep of assets. Nevertheless, this information is not used properly, because it requires participative management for the data to be kept updated and available in real time. A process that allows for this management right from the project-planning phase is Building Information Modeling (BIM). Its association with cloud-based communication platforms allows users to access all the data in real time. Allied to the resources of the Internet of Things (IoT), BIM makes it possible to transfer data to specific software that assist this information to remain alive during the whole lifecycle of the construction. The cloud-based platforms integrated to the BIM and the IoT, make it possible to digitalise and transfer the information related to the construction in real time, to create the Digital Twin (DT). With this DT all this information can be managed on one only digital platform which permits intelligent constructions and operational excellence in the sector. In this article, concepts relating to the creation of a DT are analysed by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for buildings. A review of the literature was also carried out on the recent applications of the DT and, especially, in the construction industry. It became clear in the study that in recent years the DT is gradually being implemented in different sectors. Most of the research presents a review of the literature followed by small-scale experiments or case studies. It was found that the concept of DT has attracted the attention of the construction industry, and debate on the theme is developing rapidly in the academic sector, so as to establish the ways of effectively developing it in the construction industry.