AECM Digital Technology Series: Digital Twins – Science-Not-So-Fiction

Since the early 2000s, the transition from two-dimensional AutoCAD work to 3D digital drafting began transforming how design and construction documentation communicated the intent and feel of the built environment during the design process. The transformation fueled a sense of evolution in the industry, contemplating project constraints such as climate change, tight budgets, and rising costs. Building Information Modeling (BIM) found its place addressing these constraints through collaboration issues aiding the substantial reduction of project costs. The resulting BIM model at handover now provides the base data for a digital twin for use in the facility management aspect of a building’s lifecycle.

As a further application of digital transformation in this digital age, the term digital twin has gained traction in the AEC industry. Digital twin: a digitally replicated representation of the built environment where computation and calculation form the central neural network. They control, monitor, and often provide insight into their own operations through conscious AI. Digital twins breathe life into the cold, mechanical, and complex elements of the built environment.

Digital twins are inherently complex, marrying the digital aspect with the complex network of building components, systems, and their respective construction, presenting a daunting task to the designer. Whether the asset is existing or new construction, either scenario poses unique characteristics when discussing the industry’s current state and general challenges of implementing the technology.

In its current state, the AEC industry, as it relates to digital twins, finds itself in need of standardization. BIM practices are being sought as an information repository to transition to a digital twin. Varying project scopes, coupled with varying contractual requirements and a lack of skilled expert professionals for BIM practices during the design and construction phases of a building, complicate the integration with unclear expectations and uneven geometric and informational model quality.

In terms of how manufacturers relate to the AEC industry and digital twin technologies, from this writer’s recent experience, architects are hesitant when presented with the notion of manufacturers being able to contribute to the digital twin space. Feedback on the matter from a tech-forward general contractor revealed a troubled architect/contractor community regarding manufacturer-provided BIM content being cumbersome to computational hardware due to overly intricate and complex geometry. The issue stems from shortcomings of a common BIM software platform’s handling of complex geometry. The aversion of developers to improve graphic capabilities lead software users in the industry to either abandon it completely or accept the limitations, passing on frustrations to manufacturers. This in turn highlights a disconnect between some manufacturers’ marketing efforts and the industries they seek to serve. In short, in their view, the manufacturer hasn’t gotten BIM right yet, let alone show enough ability to properly provide for the digital twin space.

Digging deeper into digital twin technologies indicates significant interest in researching new ways to incorporate them. For example, research on the use of sensors to monitor thermal bridging shows promise where collected data could be used to assist in simulating real world future applications of a building’s thermal envelope efficacy. In short, another simulation tool for the AEC industry to optimize building thermal envelope design or other building systems.

With the global affluence of technology and general shift toward digitalization to promoting sustainability, digital twins are poised to capture the evolution of a smart building. Sure, tech has been around for decades now that ties most aspects of a building system together, such as building automation systems (BAS). However, the twist on tech for digital twins is the idea of using sensor data, AI, visually diagrammatic 3D model components, and data parameters derived from data-rich BIM models to drive optimization efforts. The desired state includes all these concepts tied into portable devices, bringing building management into the palms of facility managers’ hands. These are hands that are becoming closer to digital-native generations and managing facilities within healthcare, federal, transportation and aviation, higher education, and data center sectors. The types of industries and businesses deal regularly with high-dollar project and maintenance costs, where asset management is critical.

Given the complexity of digital twins, it is not surprising to find challenges throughout different facets of this technology. The very complexity coupled with the lack of standardization mentioned previously offers one challenge. Without general standardization, it becomes difficult to fill positions with appropriate skillsets as the needs of all digital twin integrations vary due to differing implementation goals. The same could be said regarding BIM in previous years, however, the push for standardization on a global scale in the BIM landscape helped to standardize related outcomes. Digital twins stand to benefit from standardization.

Another challenge is the education gap on the owner side, where understanding the return on investment and added value gained through integration in projects is difficult. As with other facets of the AEC industry, additional associated tech and maintenance costs become issues owners may not be prepared to embrace. Fast-evolving tech and lack of standardization help muddy the waters further. Furthermore, the quantity of BIM technicians and the like is lacking in the workforce as well as certification programs to ensure standards.

Despite the challenges presented above, industry participants look to find ways to collaborate on these technologies to provide the infrastructure within which they may facilitate construction and operation processes. Councils are currently convening through various standards setting organizations, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to facilitate future adoption, and pave a clear path forward. We stand at an inflection point where architects, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, and owners all share the responsibility of ensuring the success of the built environment. It is time to embrace the implied partnership of all stakeholders through these technologies for the benefit of all.

Please reach out to Brian Rivera with any questions or feedback.

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