The widespread adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the recent emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) applications offer several new insights and decision-making capabilities throughout the life cycle of the built environment. In recent years, the ability of real-time connectivity to online sensors deployed in an environment has led to the emergence of the concept of the Digital Twin of the built environment. Digital Twins aim to achieve synchronization of the real world with a virtual platform for seamless management and control of the construction process, facility management, environment monitoring, and other life cycle processes in the built environment. However, research in Digital Twins for the built environment is still in its nascent stages and there is a need to understand the advances in the underlying enabling technologies and establish a convergent context for ongoing and future research. This paper conducted a systematic review to identify the development of the emerging technologies facilitating the evolution of BIM to Digital Twins in built environment applications. A total of 100 related papers including 23 review papers were selected and reviewed. In order to systematically classify the reviewed studies, the authors developed a five-level ladder categorization system based on the building life cycle to reflect the current state-of-the-art in Digital Twin applications. In each level of this taxonomy, applications were further categorized based on their research domains (e.g., construction process, building energy performance, indoor environment monitoring). In addition, the current state-of-art in technologies enabling Digital Twins was also summarized from the reviewed literature. It was found that most of the prior studies conducted thus far have not fully exploited or realized the envisioned concept of the Digital Twin, and thus classify under the earlier ladder categories. Based on the analysis of the reviewed work and the trends in ongoing research, the authors propose a concept of an advanced Digital Twin for building management as a baseline for further studies.

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From BIM to digital twins: a systematic review of the evolution of intelligent building representations in the AEC-FM industry

Parental involvement and attitudes towards young Greek children’s mobile usage

Polymeric interlayer materials for laminated glass: A review

The concept of digital twins is proposed as a new technology-led advancement to support the processes of the design, construction, and operation of built assets. Commonalities between the emerging definitions of digital twins describe them as digital or cyber environments that are bidirectionally-linked to their physical or real-life replica to enable simulation and data-centric decision making. Studies have started to investigate their role in the digitalization of asset delivery, including the management of built assets at different levels within the building and infrastructure sectors. However, questions persist regarding their actual applications and implementation challenges, including their integration with other digital technologies (i.e., building information modeling, virtual and augmented reality, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing). Within the built environment context, this study seeks to analyze the definitions and characteristics of a digital twin, its interactions with other digital technologies used in built asset delivery and operation, and its applications and challenges. To achieve this aim, the research utilizes a thorough literature review and semi-structured interviews with ten industry experts. The literature review explores the merits and the relevance of digital twins relative to existing digital technologies and highlights potential applications and challenges for their implementation. The data from the semi-structured interviews are classified into five themes: definitions and enablers of digital twins, applications and benefits, implementation challenges, existing practical applications, and future development. The findings provide a point of departure for future research aimed at clarifying the relationship between digital twins and other digital technologies and their key implementation challenges.

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/12/2/120/pdf?version=1643254316

Digital Twins in Built Environments: An Investigation of the Characteristics, Applications, and Challenges

This article presents the findings of a systematic review of perceived usability of educational technology systems. The research was conducted after studying, organizing, and analyzing the results ...

Perceived usability evaluation of educational technology using the System Usability Scale (SUS): A systematic review

The purpose of this study is to investigate factors that impede the integration of facilities management (FM) into building information modeling (BIM) technology. The use of BIM technology in the commercial construction industry has grown enormously in recent years. Its application to FM, however, is still limited. The literature highlights issues that hinder BIM–FM integration, which are studied and discussed in detail in this paper.,A review of literature is conducted to identify and categorize key issues hampering the application of BIM to FM. This paper has also designed a questionnaire based on a literature review and surveyed FM professionals at two industry events. Using the collected responses, these issues are analyzed and discussed using non-parametric statistical analyses.,A total of 16 issues are identified through the literature review of 54 studies under the four categories of BIM-execution and information-management, technological, cost-based and legal and contractual issues. The results of the survey of FM professionals (with 57 complete responses) reveal that the single most important issue is the lack of FM involvement in project phases when BIM is evolving.,The findings of this study could assist the construction industry (e.g. building-material and equipment manufacturers, design professionals, general contractors, construction managers, owners and facility managers) with creating guidelines that would help in BIM–FM integration. BIM is a virtual database that contains important design and construction information, which can be used for effective and efficient life cycle management if building data are captured completely and accurately with a facility manager’s involvement.

Integration of facility management and building information modeling (BIM): A review of key issues and challenges

In the past few decades, the use of glass in buildings has remarkably increased. As a result, several transparent buildings have been constructed, in which the materials have almost disappeared. Given that the advancement of architecture is inextricably linked to the acquisition of general knowledge on future developments, this study was conducted to predict the paths of development that glass structures are likely to take in the future. Investigations such as this increase the possibility of advancing both design and construction at the same speed as technology. To achieve this goal, this study evaluates the present situation by investigating new possibilities and assessing their effect on the development of glass buildings. The findings of this study show that the durability, safety, appearance, and efficiency of transparent buildings can be improved through continuous refinement of designs, replacement of aged elements, prompt repair of damaged protective coatings, and greater exploitation of double-sided screens.

A review of design considerations in glass buildings

Green finance for green buildings: A systematic review and conceptual foundation

As the construction industry advances technologically, it becomes imperative to introduce the respective information technology tools to present-day curriculum. This research study was conducted to...

Fatemeh Pariafsai

Papers

Integration of facility management and building information modeling (BIM): A review of key issues and challenges

A review of design considerations in glass buildings

Green finance for green buildings: A systematic review and conceptual foundation

Impact of Using iPad Tablets in a Construction Communication Graphics Class: Evaluation Based on System Usability Scale:

Effectiveness of a Virtual Project-Based Simulation Game in Construction Education