Operational Digital Twins: Definition and Common Use Cases

Zahra Ghorbani, Madeline Cramer, John Messner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Digital twins (DT) have recently gained significant interest among architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry professionals and researchers. However, there is no consensus on the definition of digital twins to the point that some practitioners use building information models (BIM) and digital twins synonymously. This research focuses on developing a scope definition for the identification and classification of DT use cases. The results will help researchers and industry practitioners with planning the implementation of operational digital twins. A detailed review of the literature was conducted to find the existing definitions of operational digital twins. Afterward, an extensive review of use cases of operational digital twins was completed. Furthermore, these use cases were defined through a categorical content analysis, and they were placed within an existing widely used ontology. Examples of operational DT use cases include remote asset monitoring, remote asset control, and asset performance prediction. Use cases identified in this paper were reviewed by leading experts in the DT community. The findings of this paper will benefit researchers and industry practitioners in planning for digital twin implementations by providing a common language with attributes to define specific DT use cases.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationComputing in Civil Engineering 2023
Subtitle of host publicationVisualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation - Selected Papers from the ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering 2023
EditorsYelda Turkan, Joseph Louis, Fernanda Leite, Semiha Ergan
PublisherAmerican Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Pages121-128
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780784485231
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
EventASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering 2023: Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation, i3CE 2023 - Corvallis, United States
Duration: Jun 25 2023Jun 28 2023

Publication series

NameComputing in Civil Engineering 2023: Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation - Selected Papers from the ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering 2023

Conference

ConferenceASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering 2023: Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation, i3CE 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityCorvallis
Period6/25/236/28/23

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Computer Science
  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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