What is Digital Twinning?
This year’s Digital Construction Summit and UK Construction Week events were a testament to the organiser’s vision of how a successful event should be run; ensuring attendees feel engaged, part of a community, inspired and motivated with new information and sector insights about how they can overcome their challenges with new technology and sharing best practice.
Digital Twinning was a frequently mentioned topic at this year’s construction events, but according to a recent journal published by IEEE, there are at least 29 different definitions about what Digital Twinning means. So, is Digital Twinning one of 2020’s buzzwords or does it have a more significant meaning for project managers in the construction sector?
The Concept of ‘Digital Twinning’
Research suggests the Digital Twin concept originated in David Gelenter’s book Mirror Worlds in 1991 and then applied in a manufacturing process as part of the Product Lifecycle Management by Michael Grieves of Florida Institute of Technology, and publicly introduced in 2002 at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in USA.
The Digital Twin concept consists of three parts: the physical product, the digital/virtual product, and connections between the two products which is commonly understood to be data flowing from physical product to a digital product and information from a digital/virtual product to the physical environment. Examples in the consumer market are already at an advanced stage and include music streaming/downloading to a device and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in the retail sector.
How Has Digital Twinning Developed?
In the last few years, the topic of Digital Twinning has become more widely researched and understood as advances in technology such as 5G and the Internet of Things (IOT) are becoming more common place, with the concept divided into three types:
1. Digital Twin Prototype which is exists before the product is made
2. Digital Twin Instance is a digital replica of the object
3. Digital Twin Aggregate is all the data about the Digital Twin Instance object which can be analysed.
These different perspectives may well answer the question as to why there are many definitions of Digital Twinning.
Why Project Management teams in Construction & Infrastructure Should Understand Digital Twinning?
In 2018, The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) published The Gemini Principles, which was intended to be used to develop a national digital twin. This work now underpins UK Government policy of The National Digital Twin Programmerun by CDBB and is seen as a key development “… in the digital transformation of the infrastructure and construction sectors.”.
This video helpfully explains more about the National Digital Twin.
Video courtesy of CDBB.
How can Digital Twinning Benefit Project Management Teams Managing Construction Projects?
The explainer video talks briefly about of the benefits of using Digital Twinning in construction which include:
Accurately modelling data for more accurate outcomes
Efficiency – increasing productivity, shortening construction development projects and reducing labour costs
Ability to share data more securely
Improved performance in infrastructure projects
Creation of new markets and services
Environmental benefits as a result of reduced resources.
Examples of Digital Twinning in Rail, Aviation and Construction Sector
As we earlier discussed, the roots of Digital Twinning are more focused around the Product Lifecycle. In the construction sector the processes leading up to the development of a project are already benefitting by the use of new technologies such as CORE or exploded project diagrams which can be accessible in Virtual Reality or the use Augmented Reality for investigation, collaboration and communication. Smart Cities are a fantastic example of how Digital Twinning can leverage the full benefits of Digital Twinning for business and communities, with Sunderland being named Smart City of the Year 2020 by demonstrating clear examples of benefits for its citizens.
Digital Twinning in town and city projects has been widely used for some years such as traffic flow modelling. This can provide a clear cost-benefits analysis on a proposed re-routing of a highway, implementation of an upgraded traffic management system, rail network, air traffic control system and optimisation for the shipping and maritime sector,
The added benefit with all these examples is the delivered solution can also make real-time decisions about how best to re-route traffic, adjust traffic signaling or optimise profitability of cargo ships by reducing levels of empty containers, according to the current conditions and goals by integrating Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence which make these decisions in real-time.
Video courtesy of CDBB.
Outlook with Digital Twinning
Since its inception in the 90s, we can already see how Digital Twinning is having a huge and positive impact upon project management in a relatively short-time frame. At a time when profit margins for construction firms are extremely tight and a majority of projects run over budget and past deadlines, Digital Twinning may well be key to future survival of project management teams and firms in a fiercely competitive sector.
