CU Jan-Feb 2020

INUSTRY comment
Digital Twins: double trouble or the Holy Grail
of digital estates?
By Stuart Bell, Sales & Marketing Director at GroupBC
The industry goes through phases of
adopting imaginative titles for ideas
and initiatives. For some time, we
have been fixated with 'the golden
thread' and more recently there have
been wider conversations around 'digital
twins'. The phrase 'digital twin' has been
around for longer than we think, but the
past few months have seen it rise to the
top as a key industry driver. So are digital
twins on track to be the Holy Grail of
construction, or are they just another fad
that could spell complexity, cost and
double trouble?
There have been many descriptions of
digital twins, but generally speaking they
can be summed up as 'a realistic digital
representation of something physical'.
What distinguishes a digital twin from
any other digital model is its connection
to the physical twin'.
On the face of it, the benefits of twins
are easy to see: they offer a way of
optimising the operation and
maintenance of physical assets, systems
and processes. By analysing the virtual
model, lessons can be learned and
opportunities exploited in the real
physical twin. They enable the bridge
between 'as built' and 'in operation',
providing clients with the ability to
assess, in real time, their estates and
make decisions based on fact.
However, as with many technological
advances, there can be challenges with
not only implementation, but the value of
these systems. So, how do we ensure
that digital twins provide a solid
foundation for the future of digital estates
and avoid the troubles that all too often
mean one step forwards, two steps back?
Ultimately, this boils down to the
communication between client and
supply chain, and understanding what
the overall objectives for digital twins are
for an asset owner. Part of this is
compiling a team which shares these
goals, and can implement the
technology across the business and
work directly with management to
provide the information they require. All
too often systems are procured by one
team and left to another to implement.
This is where it falls down.
The success of digital twins also hinges
on whether a business has a vision of
what they want the technology to
achieve. How do digital twins fit into a
business strategy? How much data
needs to be captured, curated and
mapped? All of these questions feed into
a case for digital twins. Often, however,
these questions are not communicated
when they should have been, leading to
an unfortunate level of ambiguity as to
why they were ever considered in the
first place.
WHAT IS A DIGITAL TWIN?
In essence, a digital twin is a virtual
representation of a physical asset, which
provides up-to-date data on the real
world operation of a built asset. A digital
twin houses information on a given
asset, such as its objects and states.
Digital twins cover the entire lifecycle of a
building, connecting products and
services so they can be viewed and, if
necessary, acted upon during
construction and after handover to the
asset owner.
When it comes to unravelling a digital
twin's definition, industry professionals
up and down the supply chain must see
the digital twin as more than a file
containing everything which relates to an
asset. Yes it houses data, but it also
assures the information is spatiallyconnected
and held altogether in the
right place, to maximise productivity and
product performance.
A digital twin is, therefore, all about
connection. It would merely be a virtual
representation of a building with no realtime
value if the data within wasn't
connected to the physical asset.
30
January/February 2020