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INDUSTRYfocus On the right track Bentley's digital twin technology provides a model for the next generation of the country's rail infrastructure. Good enough for the next 150 years? solutions, using simulations to replan and reoptimise project schedules, and using digital twins to produce end-to-end feedback to enhance the decision making process. Longer term trends will see greater use of digital tools to increase productivity and R&D expenditure, particularly in off-site construction technologies and building in controlled environments. Digital twins, Steve added, will be foremost in accelerating the trend towards a more economical and sustainable future. There was an interesting underscore to Bentley's recent Virtual Press Conference when Steve Cockerell, Industry Marketing Director, Road and Rail, Bentley Systems, listed the sustainability of different forms of transport in his introduction on business drivers for the rail industry. Urbanisation is a key feature of the way the civilised world is developing, he said, rising from a mere 750 million living in cities in 1950 to the current 4.2 billion people, or 55% of the world's population. This is expected to rise to 68% of the world's population by 2050. Rail and mass transit systems, he argued, are the only way to keep cities moving. His argument was strengthened further when he quoted the carbon footprints of different forms of transport, ranging from an aggregated 254g of CO2 emissions per kilometre of domestic flights to 171g for cars, down to 41g for domestic rail and a mere 6g for Eurostar. The drive to eradicate fossil fuels and the growth of electrification of all forms of transport will obviously change much of this, but the radical shifts in the way people will work and live in the future could also contribute to the ongoing demands for effective rail infrastructure. The Covid-19 pandemic has turned HS2 goes underground everything on its head. Now that working from home is seen as a viable alternative to the daily commute and crowded offices the expected urbanisation could well turn out to be domestic rather than commercial, with office blocks being converted into apartments. Higher density occupation leaves little room for personal transport, and the economics of owning an expensive piece of metal which is either gridlocked or parked outside your apartment for 99% of the time preclude private ownership. Public transport, of all kinds, will become the norm in the city, with rapid transport systems connecting each city hub. Covid-19 should therefore now be seen as an opportunity, rather than a challenge according to Steve - and taking advantage of that opportunity relies on us working 'smarter', enabled by a growing demand for 'the digitalising' of the network. He believes that the industry can emerge stronger from the pandemic and that evidence for this has come from Bentley's customers, who are helping to accelerate the pace of digital collaboration. Besides the growth of WFH and social platforms for collaboration, there is an increased demand for 4D and 5D NEXT STEPS IN DIGITALISATION We have been going digital for quite some time, but only now are we really learning what we can do with the information we have available, when we can use it, and ultimately, how decisions are made. We have moved through 2D and the 3D, 4D and 5D dimensions of BIM, and now we are talking about utilising 6D BIM, the understanding of whole-life cost of assets, where most money is proportionately spent, making better decisions upfront in terms of both cost and sustainability. That's just part of it though. Steve also spoke about the next digital advancements that will leverage digital twins - immersive visualisation, the use of reality modelling and machine learning, analytics and simulation tools like pedestrian flow and construction simulation to handle change synchronisation. Bentley's iTwin technology provides the convergence between the engineering technology - the building specs, drawings, documents, models, analyses, geotech and other specs - and the devices that test and record the physical aspects of construction, such as IoT feeds, sensors, drones, cameras, LIDAR and point clouds. It then adds the information feeds and reports like asset tags, work orders, maintenance and inspection records, 16 July/August 2020
INDUSTRYfocus HS2 creating a real time data stream. "It's the connectivity between the physical asset in the real world and its digital twin that makes the difference," explained Steve. DIGITAL TWINS IN ACTION Where better could we go for an example of digital twins in action in Rail Infrastructure than to HS2? The STRABAG joint venture with Skanska and Costain, HS2 has generated a lot of hot air and opposition because of its route, cost, purpose and necessity, and even the trend towards WFH has given its critics further ammunition, but I believe a couple of critical factors swing the balance in its favour. The railway system in the North of England is clogged with both passenger and freight trains, and that cannot be relieved until much of the former is transferred to a newer and faster system. The second factor is traditional. Railways transformed this country in the 19th Century (and the rest of the world in passing) and spreading the upfront cost over a century or more's practical usage is pretty good value! To explain, though, how the joint venture has successfully digitised its operation, we had Peter Ruff, head of BIM at Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture and Roberto Alberola, BIM Information Manager - TYPSA UK - SCS Railways. Peter and Roberto jointly outlined the way in which the joint venture was harnessing the power of BIM to design, construct and maintain digitally the project using graphical and non-graphical information in a CDE which provided real-time access to reliable and accurate information, using 4D, 5D and the 6D workflows and simulations outlined above. The stretch of HS2 that they cover is the 26km section leading from central London. It includes 20km of tunnels, 6 shafts, 2 portals, 5 bridges and 5Km of earthworks. The joint venture also has to consider 7 TDMs (Travel Demand Strategies). This is definitely the most complex part of the whole HS2 as it involves complex interfaces to central London and the existing infrastructure, which comprises Network Rail, London Underground and other utilities. Besides the various levels of BIM in operation, the CDE and Asset information, the joint venture manages information flows from numerous other key areas: Geospatial, in the shape of web maps and spatial analysis, Data Services, which include analytics, structures, databases and schemas and Tech Services to cover digital surveys, VR, AR and even mobile field data acquisition. Peter explained that with access to data at all levels, the JV is able to plan more effectively, and to visualise the project using tools like Synchro months, and even years, in advance, and to use the analysis to optimise the project's sequencing. Emphasising the project's aim to reduce its carbon footprint, he explained that rapid analysis of carbon emissions enabled them to optimise construction in a more sustainable manner. The 'Build' part of the project uses data collection from reality meshes, point clouds to find construction out of tolerance, and virtual and augmented reality to view the construction project in a new, more interactive setting. Overall, the digitalisation of the HS2 project exemplifies its benefits. As Peter explains, "Going digital with Bentley has allowed us at SCS to realise our mission statement of creating a digital Blueprint for infrastructure projects of the future." His views were emphasised by Roberto. "The complexity of the project demanded a very high level of control of the technical outputs (models, drawings, data), so the "traditional" approach - using standardised content, trusting existing or external databases and going with software defaults - wouldn't suffice. We created a complete custom live working environment for Bentley's OpenBuildings Designer that lives in ProjectWise, ensuring that the models are built from a centralised library so that all the information is added consistently, achieving the highest data quality required to feed in all the downstream processes." The virtual Press Conference provided substantially more examples of rail projects worldwide, including details on station design and the flow of passengers using LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer. Developed to simulate the efficient flow of rail passengers during peak journey times and station evacuations, LEGION Simulator has also implemented social distancing modules to cope with the current demands of Covid-19. Both of these areas will be covered in greater detail in the next issue of the magazine. www.bentley.com July/August 2020 17
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