INTERFACE OF QUANTUM COMPUTATION AND ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING, AND CONSTRUCTION (AEC) INDUSTRY

Abstract

The ever-growing complexity of construction projects on the one hand, and the increasing use of emerging technologies in the AEC industry on the other hand, have significantly escalated computational complexity. This trend is expected to continue. However, conventional computing tools and technologies highly rely on classical computing techniques that may not be able to handle computational tasks which become larger and more complex over time. Quantum computing (QC) is a fast-evolving technology that promises to completely revolutionize the computation capabilities in various fields, including engineering, by enabling complex computations that currently are impossible or prohibitively time consuming. As a result, QC can be seen as a next-generation solution to address computational challenges arising in the AEC’s today and future. However, scant attention has been drawn to what the QC can bring to the AEC industry. This study reviews the existing QC literature to explore AEC applications that could benefit from QC-based methods, and the potential challenges associated with their implementation in the AEC industry. Illustrating a clear outlook of the potential advantages and challenges, the study also helps to set realistic expectations over the potential improvement that QC can offer over conventional techniques.