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Advanced Developments and Applications of Digital Twins in Construction Industry

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 18351

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Faris Elghaish

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Guest Editor

School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
Interests: BIM; digital twin; blockchain; Internet of Things (IoT); Artifitial Intelligence (AI); circular economy; circular supply chain

Dr. Ahmed Alnaggar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Interests: digital construction; lifecycle information management; digital twins; project management; Internet of Things (IoT); sociotechnical systems theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The applications of digital twins have received a significant amount of attention from construction industry practitioners and researchers around the world. The transition from stand-alone BIM adoption to digital twins requires a considerable effort and sincere endeavors from researchers. However, to create a lifecycle digital twin, more focus needs to be placed on developing new workable solutions to enable integration between the Internet of Things (IoT) and BIM as a tool to connect the physical asset to its cyber replica across the asset lifecycle. As such, this Special Issue focuses on receiving novel development-based digital twin studies to develop a theoretical and practical base that can be used as a base for researchers to extend presented digital twin solutions in this Special Issue to a higher technology readiness (TR) level. Moreover, industry practitioners can directly adopt solutions in their projects and publish the outcome as case study research. This Special Issue covers a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, the following:

From BIM to digital twins: enablers and challenges;
Applications of digital twins in the construction stage including progress monitoring, carbon optimization, and automated safety warnings;
Integration of digital twins and artificial intelligence (AI);
Digital twins and circular economy;
Blockchain of Things (BCoT);
Applications and developments of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the construction industry;
Digital twins for net zero.

Dr. Faris Elghaish
Dr. Ahmed Alnaggar
Guest Editors

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Keywords

digital twin
Internet of Things (IoT)
building information modeling (BIM)
national digital twin
Industry 4.0 technologies
machine learning (ML) with digital twins
net zero-based digital twin
smart maintenance for existing assets

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 4475 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Efficiency of Using Machine Learning Techniques in Fiber-Reinforced-Polymer Applications in Structural Engineering

by Mohammad Alhusban, Mohannad Alhusban and Ayah A. Alkhawaldeh

Sustainability 2024, 16(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16010011 - 19 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1914

Abstract

Sustainable solutions in the building construction industry have emerged as a new method for retrofitting applications in the last two decades. Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) have garnered much attention among researchers for improving reinforced concrete (RC) structures. The existing design guidelines for FRP-strengthened RC members were developed using empirical methods that are based on specific databases, limiting the accuracy of the predicted results. Therefore, the use of innovative and efficient prediction tools to predict the behavior of FRP-strengthened RC members has become essential. During the last few years, efforts have been progressively focused on the use of machine learning (ML) as a feasible and effective technique for solving various structural engineering problems. Its capability to predict the behavior of complex nonlinear structural systems while considering a wide range of parameters offers a distinctive opportunity to make the behavior of RC members more predictable and accurate. This paper aims to evaluate the current state of using various ML algorithms in RC members strengthened with FRP to enable researchers to determine the capabilities of current solutions as well as to find research gaps to carry out more research to bridge revealed knowledge and practice gaps. Scopus databases were searched using predefined standards. The search revealed ninety-six articles published between 2016 and 2023. Consequently, these articles were analyzed for ML applications in the field of FRP retrofitting, including flexural and shear strengthening of RC beams, flexural strengthening of slabs, confinement and compressive strength of columns, and FRP bond strength. The results reveal that 32% of the reviewed studies focused on the application of ML techniques to the flexural and shear strengthening of RC beams, 32% on the confinement and compressive strength of columns, 6.5% on the flexural strengthening of slabs, 22% on FRP bond strength, 6.5% on materials, and 1% on beam–column joints. This research also revealed that the application of various ML algorithms has shown a significant improvement in resistance prediction accuracy as compared with the existing empirical solutions. Supervised learning techniques were the most favorable learning method due to their good generalization, interpretability, adaptability, and predictive efficiency. In addition, the selection of suitable ML algorithms and optimization techniques is found to be mainly dictated by the nature of the problem and the characteristics of the dataset. Nonetheless, selecting the most appropriate ML model and optimization algorithm for each specific application remains a challenge, given that each algorithm is developed with different principles and methodologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Applications of Digital Twins in Construction Industry)

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14 pages, 496 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integration of Digital Twin and Circular Economy in the Construction Industry

by Xianhai Meng, Simran Das and Junyu Meng

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13186; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713186 - 1 Sep 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3065

Abstract

As a major industry sector, construction is gradually transitioning from the linear economy to the circular economy. Due to various barriers or challenges, the circular economy within construction progresses at a slow pace. Digital technologies can help construction address these barriers or challenges. As a new generation of digital technologies, the digital twin is still seldom used in construction for the circular economy at the current stage. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the implementation of the circular economy, as well as the integration of a digital twin and the circular economy, in construction. Based on a review of the relevant literature, this study adopts a combination of expert interviews as a qualitative research method and questionnaire surveys as a quantitative research method. The findings of this study suggest that design and demolition, which are closely linked to each other with regard to circular economy strategies, are more important than other project phases. The digital twin has great potential to improve circular economy practice. It can play some important roles in different project phases throughout the life cycle of a construction project, to achieve the circular economy. Digital twin–circular economy integration makes it effective for construction to overcome circular economy barriers or challenges, reduce waste, and increase salvage value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Applications of Digital Twins in Construction Industry)

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35 pages, 5316 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Benefits of Implementing Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems for the Sustainable Construction Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

by Ahmed Farouk Kineber, Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari, Faris Elghaish, Ahmad M. A. Zamil, Mohammad Alhusban and Thikryat Jibril Obied Qaralleh

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12697; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712697 - 22 Aug 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 12608

Abstract

Accidents are more prevalent in the construction industry compared to other economic sectors. Therefore, understanding the benefits of occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMSs) in terms of their sustainable implementation, management and performance, as well as the awareness of OHMSs and barriers to their implementation, are important for improving OHSMSs in the sustainability of the construction industry. Although there is considerable research on OHSMSs, further assessments are needed concerning other aspects of OHSMSs, particularly the benefits of OHSMSs. Thus, this review paper summarises the empirical state of the art of OHSMS activities. Scopus, Web of Science and other databases were searched using predefined standards. The query was limited to articles published from 1999 to 2023. Consequently, one hundred and four articles were selected and analysed. These articles present analyses of OHSMSs and their potential benefits concerning the implementation of OHSMSs and management, performance, awareness, and barriers in relation to OHSMSs. The results reveal that 12.50% of the reviewed studies assessed the implementation of OHSMSs in the construction industry, and 25.96% studied the management of OHSMSs. Analyses of the performance of OHSMSs in the construction industry accounted for 8.65%, analyses of the awareness of OHSMSs accounted for 4.81%, model-related analyses accounted for 13.46%, studies on the significance/benefits of OHSMSs accounted for 3.85%, studies on the barriers/challenges associated with OHSMSs accounted for 5.77%, analyses on the safety indicators of OHSMSs accounted for 2.88% and other types of studies accounted for 20.19%. This study further reveals that the implementation of OHSMSs is characterised by a dearth of proper communication, the non-utilisation of personal protective equipment (PPE), wrong postures and work activities, a dearth of training, physiological factors including burnout and stress, and a dearth of safety culture and orientation; in addition, matters relating to compliance with effective laws are significant safety challenges in the construction industry. However, the rationality for evaluating the benefits of OHSMSs, comprising their implementation, management and performance, as well as awareness of and barriers to OHSMSs, is challenging to authenticate because appropriate field, survey, organisational and clinical data concerning incident occurrences in the construction industry are lacking for comprehensive evaluations. Thus, this novel study presents our effort to narrow this gap by establishing a framework for increasing our understanding of the benefits of implementing OHSMSs and accident reduction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Developments and Applications of Digital Twins in Construction Industry)

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