Digital Twinning in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Sector: Web-based Live Virtual Representatives for our Built Infrastructure

Pieter Pauwels
Eindhoven University of Technology

The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector has always had a strong focus on creating digital representations of the built environment, including mostly CAD models and more recently Building Information Models (BIM models). In the last few years, this has evolved to the creation and use of Digital Twins (DTs), which are typically 3D representations of the building or built infrastructure, with potentially a realistic interface (VR or game-based), and with bidirectional data exchange, e.g. for the control of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment. To make real-time interaction possible between digital model and real world, communication of information needs to be enabled in small enough information packages, and web-based communication needs to be possible; which is a considerable challenge in an industry that is typically focused on large-size models (e.g. BIM models, point cloud models) that are not web-native. In this presentation, an overview of these challenges is given, including an indication of how linked data and data spaces technology may be used to provide granular web-based access to building data at object level rather than model. Application cases are shown in circular construction, robotic construction, and smart buildings.

Speaker bio: Pieter Pauwels works as an Associate Professor at the Department of the Built Environment at TU Eindhoven. His work and interests are in information system support for the building life-cycle (architectural design, engineering, construction, building operation). He is involved in a number of industry-oriented research projects on topics affiliated to AI in construction, design thinking, Building Information Modelling (BIM), Linked Building Data (LBD), Linked Data in Architecture and Construction (LDAC), and Semantic Web technologies. He teaches courses on Digitization in Construction, particularly BIM courses, Parametric design courses, process modelling, and project-based courses. He is scientific board member for the Eindhoven AI Systems Institute (EAISI), board member and treasurer of the European Council for Computing in Construction (EC3), secretary in the European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE), and associate editor for Automation in Construction. His recent research projects focus on web-based building information handling, including the use of linked data, semantics, artificial intelligene, and data spaces, for the purpose of circular construction, construction robotics, smart buildings, and industrialized construction.