Designing a Virtual Twin for Structural Health Monitoring by Integrating BIM and Digital Twin Framework

BIM (building information modelling) enhances the management of large construction projects and infrastructure projects. Construction monitoring is an important phase since it involves basic aspects of repair and maintenance of buildings. A growing number of data recording sensors are being used to analyse the distress patterns of structural elements in the global construction industry. The decision-making process for structural failure detection requires the visualization of large amounts of data in real time. Using BIM and digital twin frameworks, this study aims to design a framework for developing a virtual twin (VT) framework to automate the process of real-time data monitoring and virtual visualization of the structure. The digital BIM model of a structure is created to customize the parametric and develop a virtual model to visualize the structural behaviour over time. The digital BIM model of a portal frame was programmed to respond to the physical sensors. The real-time data monitoring from IoT sensors was visualized using programmable nodes created in Revit Dynamo. A laboratory model has been used to characterize and evaluate the framework, which indicated that there was a damage pattern present. It is concluded from the study that the decision-making using VT could contribute to the development of a digital BIM model which can assist in leading professional SHM practices.