The use of Digital Twins in construction management goes back about a decade, but project leaders may not realize the many roles they can play. Bibhuti Aryal, Bentley Systems, lead director, described in an interview with Smart Cities, as his infrastructure engineering software company has used them in large transport infrastructure projects to help public, premises and project managers.
Build public purchase. In the area of Fredericksburg, Virgínia, the traffic of Intersate 95 was often slowed to a crawl, especially in the maximum travel times. The correction would be complex: convert three lanes to the south of the I-95 to serve local traffic, adding three new lanes to the south through traffic, building a new bridge over the Rappahannock river and lifting the height of two other bridges. The main design firm Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson brought Bentley to develop a digital twin of the proposed project, allowing interest groups to visualize it online.
“A visual representation of what happens is easy for everyone, whether it is the government that finances the [or] Whether it is the audience that will be affected, “said Aryal.
Avoid design errors. As a digital twin model may include geographical, topographic and subsurface information, it can help prevent design errors that increase construction costs and delays, Aryal explained. “Put all the information available and in context so that when you make a planning decision, you have the best information in front of you,” he said.
The New York State Transportation Department used a digital twin for public outreach and as a primary contract document when the six -lane six lanes in New York City Borough needed replacement. The bridge, built in 1938, has more than 150,000 vehicles daily and has bicycle roads and pedestrian sidewalks. The designers faced complex traffic, the utility, the geotechnical and structural challenges, said a case study of Bentley Systems.
More than 180 reviewers of 15 agencies were able to review and comment on a three -dimensional digital model of the new proposed structure. The $ 65 million project is under construction, according to the state Dot.
Centralize data collection, monitoring and maintenance. “Infrastructure is also a living organism,” Aryal said. A digital twin can carry out beyond the construction phase for future maintenance. The data of the sensor and information of the on -site inspections can be incorporated into the digital twin to help understand the operation of a bridge, tunnel, road or railway.
Aryal recommends that the planners and designers be new in digital twins begin to use them in a smaller project, which would help them understand data needs and how to validate the quality of data and manage data governance. However, “the greatest value is obviously in the megaprojects,” he said.
