Barriers to the Adoption of Digital Twin in the Construction Industry: A Literature Review

Abstract

Digital twin (DT) has gained significant recognition among researchers due to its potential across industries. With the prime goal of solving numerous challenges confronting the construction industry (CI), DT in recent years has witnessed several applications in the CI. Hence, researchers have been advocating for DT adoption to tackle the challenges of the CI. Notwithstanding, a distinguishable set of barriers that oppose the adoption of DT in the CI has not been determined. Therefore, this paper identifies the barriers and incorporates them into a classified framework to enhance the roadmap for adopting DT in the CI. This research conducts an extensive review of the literature and analyses the barriers whilst integrating the science mapping technique. Using Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science databases, 154 related bibliographic records were identified and analysed using science mapping, while 40 carefully selected relevant publications were systematically reviewed. From the review, the top five barriers identified include low level of knowledge, low level of technology acceptance, lack of clear DT value propositions, project complexities, and static nature of building data. The results show that the UK, China, the USA, and Germany are the countries spearheading the DT adoption in the CI, while only a small number of institutions from Australia, the UK, Algeria, and Greece have established institutional collaborations for DT research. A conceptual framework was developed on the basis of 30 identified barriers to support the DT adoption roadmap. The main categories of the framework comprise stakeholder-oriented, industry-related, construction-enterprise-related, and technology-related barriers. The identified barriers and the framework will guide and broaden the knowledge of DT, which is critical for successful adoption in the construction industry.

Digital-Twin-Based Fire Safety Management Framework for Smart Buildings

“…This highlights the need for further education and awareness initiatives to disseminate knowledge about DTs and their potential applications in FM. These findings also agree with prominent gaps found by several studies [127,129,141]. The authors of [128] highlighted a lack of educational programs at universities that especially focus on addressing DTs.…”

“…The participants were also asked about their experience with DTs, BIM, the IoT, AI, and AR [43,126]. The survey also asked about the impact of missing information on their decision making and solicited suggestions for enhancing the DT framework [43,[127][128][129]. The survey included questions about participants' familiarity and understanding of DT technologies in FM [126,[129][130][131], the frequency of data collection for FSE maintenance [43,126], the expected benefits from DT technologies in FM [126][127][128][129], and the evaluation of DT technologies in FSE and fire evacuations [126,129,132].…”

“…Difficulties in systems integration were the most prominent theme with 30 occurrences, highlighting the challenges and complexities of integrating heterogeneous data sources, especially from different sensors, photogrammetry technologies, and conventional sources. Difficulties in performance in real-time communication, with 24 occurrences, show the challenges concerning the processing of the massive amount of data generated in real-time communication, and this presents a significant challenge in adopting DT [129]. Lack of DT knowledge, with 16 occurrences, shows that the knowledge and skill gap is a significant factor complicating effective DT implementation in FSM in the FM industry.…”

Acceptance of digital twins of customer demands for supply chain optimisation: an analysis of three hierarchical digital twin levels

“…Like any digitally encapsulated artefact or information technological method, digital twins are becoming increasingly well described from a technical point of view with intriguing managerial questions lagging behind (Holmstr€ om et al, 2019;Bhandal et al, 2022;Okrent and Vokurka, 2004). In this light, Opoku et al's (2023) recent review on adoption barriers of digital twins found that the literature is very concerned with legal, ethical, and technical factors on the organisation-if not even the industry-level. This view is shared by Saporiti et al (2023), and van der Horn and Mahadevan (2021), who call for more research on organisational culture as digital twin implementation challenge.…”

“…, 2022; Okrent and Vokurka, 2004). In this light, Opoku et al. ’s (2023) recent review on adoption barriers of digital twins found that the literature is very concerned with legal, ethical, and technical factors on the organisation-if not even the industry-level.…”