Digital Twins as the Next Step in the Design and Management of Bridge Structures

Abstract

Digital twins are virtual counterparts of objects throughout their entire life cycle. Primarily adopted by NASA, today are a crucial component of the ongoing digital transformation. Civil engineering has spotted the benefits coming from digitization, but the current stage of technological adoption is still in its infancy. Digital twinning can empower the automation and efficiency of civil engineering and prepare it for future challenges. However, for the growth of the digital twinning idea, extended research and practical implementations are needed. Current trends in civil engineering, such as Building Information Modeling and Structural Health Monitoring, prepare civil engineering to adopt the concept of digital twins. Nevertheless, to fulfill the requirements of and benefit from multi-industrial digitization, civil engineering must evolute its methodologies in the digital twinning fashion. Reviewed examples of implementations (focusing on concrete bridges) show practical benefits for automating processes and increasing the resilience of structures. The article describes the key components of a proposed bridge digital twin framework: BIM, SHM, and Artificial Intelligence, and explains their roles in the digital twinning concept.