Construction Site Digital Twin Implementation: The Case Study of the ET4 Research Project

Although digitalization of the construction sector has grown significantly in recent years, construction operators, and particularly small and medium enterprises are facing barriers and many difficulties in its practical implementation. Digitalization of construction processes instead, can overcome typical challenges of the construction sector, for instance integrating tasks and different operators of the value chain. Also, the integration of disruptive digital technologies and tools can lead to new processes, business models and innovative construction components. Building Information Modelling, Internet of Things, and Virtual reality can be interconnected to create a digital simulation of reality that can be termed Digital Twin. This is a Cyber-Physical Production System that has the aim of allowing a real-time production control by a Digital Twin that gives a transparent view of production process, thus assessing process status and allowing forecasting. Construction production is based on projects, the temporary nature of construction projects makes project controlling “challenging”. Assessing project and processes statuses is of vital importance in construction industry and Digital Twin can give a set of actual data for project control. The possibility of acquiring data from production environment allows project managers to synchronize models, plans and reports of construction project thus being able to perform project simulation, and implementing digital-based Project Control processes. The ET4Digital project has the aim of overcoming barriers hindering SMEs from adopting digital technologies and offered the opportunity of implementing a simple Generation #1 Digital Twin for a small-scale pilot construction site.