Developing a Digital Twin at Building and City Levels: Case Study of West Cambridge Campus

Abstract

A Digital Twin (DT) refers to a digital replica of physical assets, processes and systems. DTs integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to create living digital simulation models that are able to learn and update from multiple sources, and to represent and predict the current and future conditions of physical counterparts. However, the current activities related to DTs are still at an early stage with respect to buildings and other infrastructure assets from an architectural and engineering/construction point of view. Less attention has been paid to the operation & maintenance (O&M) phase, which is the longest time span in the asset life cycle. A systematic and clear architecture verified with practical use cases for constructing a DT would be the foremost step for effective operation and maintenance of buildings and cities. To this end, this paper presents a system architecture for DTs, which is specifically designed at both the building and city levels. Based on current research about multi-tier architectures, this proposed DT architecture enables integration of heterogeneous data sources, supports effective data querying and analysing, supports decision-making processes in O&M management, and further bridges the gap between human relationships with buildings/cities. Based on this architecture, a DT demonstrator of the West Cambridge site of the University of Cambridge was developed. This paper aims at going through the whole

City Digital Twin Potentials: A Review and Research Agenda

“…To solve heterogeneous data, utilization of the ontological approach was suggested to improve the semantic interoperability and secure future data expansions [35][36][37]. Developing multi-layered system architecture for the city's digital models was also proposed to manage and integrate various data types in the digital twin model [34,45]. In addition, although the underground infrastructure data lack appropriate levels of accessibility and quality, it was suggested that they are candidates for better interoperability due to the ability to integrate several data models [44].…”

“…The city digital twin model is anticipated to provide insights about all city systems and processes that produce different types of data with different formats among different sectors and stakeholders. Thus, developing more enriched semantic information [47], understanding and modeling system interactions [69], and identifying requirements for interoperability among the various systems [45] are required for further development of the city digital twin model. In addition, the need for engaging the public and the different sectors of the city and providing accessibility to the model is still challenging due to several issues related to lack of governance structures, data-sharing frameworks, and participants readiness, awareness, and willingness [40,46,64].…”

A Digital Twin of Bridges for Structural Health Monitoring

“…For example, in the context of Digital Built Britain, a UK government led program, a DT is defined as "a realistic digital representation of assets, processes or systems in the built or natural environment" [1]. Lu et al [2] describes DTs as "living digital simulation models that are able to learn and update from multiple sources, and to represent and predict the current and future conditions of the physical counterparts correspondingly and timely" in the context of dynamic DTs at building and city levels. As for bridge applications, based on review of existing literature (e.g.…”

“…As for bridge applications, based on review of existing literature (e.g. [2], [3]) and consultation of nine experts (four professors, two directors, one associate professor and two assistant professors) in related fields (BIM, digital construction, asset management, smart infrastructure and bridge SHM), a number of key features and capabilities of a digital twin for bridges are summarized in Table II. In summary, a DT can be used for visualization, monitoring, assessment, simulation, prediction, optimization, management, etc.…”

Sensor Data Visualization for Indoor Point Clouds

“…Lu et al describe the development and testing of a prototypical DT of their University of Cambridge campus. They propose an integrated system architecture, making use of as-is BIM models as the main representational data source, along with other data sources (e.g., real-time sensor data, IoT devices, asset management data, tags and other digital documentation) (Lu et al, 2019).…”