The emergence of digital twin technology presents tremendous opportunities for several industry sectors. A digital twin is defined as the virtual representation of a physical asset that collects and sends real-time information. A digital twin collects data from the physical asset in real-time and uses this data to create a virtual model of the physical object. Its functionality depends on the bi-directional coordination of data between the physical and virtual models. This is likened to cyber-physical systems, which seek to provide bi-directional coordination between the physical and virtual worlds. While digital twins have found applications in the various industrial sectors such as aerospace, manufacturing, and industrial engineering, their applications in the construction industry are relatively limited. Although some level of progress has been made in the construction industry with the application of a digital twin, it still lags in other sectors. Virtual models of constructed facilities are developed and used to plan and construct the actual facility, with changes in the physical facility being automatically reflected in the virtual model based on real-time data and vice-versa. The digital twin shows promising possibilities in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a facility. This paper reviews the development and implementation of digital twin technology in the construction industry and compares its use with other industries while assessing the benefits of DT to the construction industry. A systematic literature review including a thematic analysis was employed to address the purpose of this study. Limitations associated with the existing and emerging applications are also identified. It concludes by highlighting the importance of DT applications in the construction sector.

Technological advances have enabled the monitoring and control of construction operations and assets remotely. Digital twins, based on computational modeling, have enabled the creation of a digital map for physical structures. Research on digital twins (DTs) for constructed facilities projects has gained widespread traction in the industry. While these applications have increased over the years, there has been sparse review of them. This paper systematically reviews the applications of digital twins in construction using content analysis. We identified and analyzed 53 academic journal and conference papers, which revealed several DT applications that could be categorized into nine areas: lifecycle analysis, facility management, energy, education, disaster, structural health monitoring, DT for cities, infrastructure management, and miscellaneous. This enables the visualization of the current state of DT, comparison with the desired state, and possible integrations with other technologies. Among the observed benefits of DTs are the ability to increase engagement and collaboration, reduce construction and operating costs, reduce human error, automate energy demand, manage assets throughout their lifecycle, and apply structural health monitoring. It also enables the collection of real-time data on an asset’s status, history, maintenance needs, and provides an interactive platform for managing an asset. Future directions include addressing how to standardize data acquisition as well as the semantic interoperability and heterogeneity of data. Additionally, modeling human cognitive processes as well as spatiotemporal information would be beneficial to a smart city and other infrastructure systems, especially in disaster situations.

Health care ensures the health and safety of people, and as such requires effective management of facilities. Unfortunately, current approaches to health care facilities management (HFM) are based on an “if it breaks, we fix it” approach. There is still no effective real-time monitoring of health care facilities, causing a lack of effective preventive maintenance. We propose digital twin (DT), which can monitor equipment and systems in real time and enable bidirectional coordination, to address the shortcomings of current health care facilities management processes. DT is the virtual representation of a physical asset in all instances and in real time. This study aims to identify the shortcomings in HFM and propose a DT prototype to improve HFM. The study adopts a mixed methodology including a literature review, a case study integrating interviews, and scenario planning. The study identified basic DT concepts and data dynamics. The study identified the adopted DT components including virtual design/modeling technologies, sensors, data analytics techniques, communication networks, and mobile devices, including the components integration and data flow management of the DT platform. Functional implementations for scenario deployment were also developed. The functional implementations addressed the following scenarios: monitoring the performance of the HVAC system using pressure criteria, monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ), monitoring the performance of pulsed light for deactivating bacteria and viruses and radio frequency (RF), as they affect the performance of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. This paper concludes by highlighting the benefits and limitations of DT application in health care facilities management. This study focused on DT-based health care facilities management. The paper elaborated on health care facilities management and identified some of the various shortcomings. Some of the shortcomings include a lack of effective real-time updates on the performance of the facilities and their system, lack of control of a physical system from the virtual model, and lack of building information modeling (BIM) integration with facilities management systems. The study further identified some FM software and its shortcomings. The findings from the study were supported using a case study approach that involved some health care facilities management. The facilities management and DT experts were used to help develop four scenarios that addressed some of the identified HFM issues identified in a different study. Subsequently, functional specifications explaining the step-by-step implementation processes of the proposed scenarios were developed. Although the study is still at its planning and development stage, potential benefits and limitations based on the proposed DT system were identified, including the contributions of the study. The study provides potential applications of the models discussed, and the implementation of the proposed system is currently in progress.

Healthcare facilities are essential in providing health, and as a result, they require effective facilities management systems. Unfortunately, current approaches to healthcare facilities management (FM) are based on “if it breaks, we fix it” approach. This is due to the lack of effective real-time information update and bi-directional coordination to monitor, manage, and control critical healthcare facilities. Thus, there is a need in ensuring a preventive maintenance approach. This research investigates the extent to which healthcare facilities management can be enhanced using digital twin technology. Digital twin (DT) enables the virtual representation of a physical asset and all the instances using real-time information. DT collects data from physical assets in real-time and uses the data to create virtual models of the physical objects. This research employs a set of methods such as literature review and interviews to address its objectives. The study further identified issues with critical healthcare facilities amenable to digital twin approach, reviews digital twin enabling technologies, and presents a system architecture for DT application in healthcare facilities management. The research concludes with a discussion of the potential benefits of DT application in healthcare facilities management.

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) integrate the digital and physical components of a system through a bi-directional coordination mechanism that facilitates data sharing and information communication between these two components. The integration of cyber-physical systems with intelligent buildings is intended to enhance the functionality and performance of intelligent buildings. This can be achieved through the seamless integration of the digital systems in intelligent buildings, which involves the integration of sensors, actuators, web services, and other intelligent systems to control and monitor intelligent buildings’ systems, subsystems, and plant and equipment. This paper reviews developments in intelligent buildings and the concept of cyber-physical systems—how intelligent buildings could be enhanced using CPS approach. It reviewed previous studies on CPS identifying five layers of CPS application applicable to intelligent building designs. The application of CPS in intelligent buildings is discussed under three stages: pre-construction/design stage, construction stage, and operation and maintenance stage. The benefits and limitations associated with this integration are briefly outlined, and steps for further research are identified.

Effective facilities management (FM) is crucial for healthcare facilities to ensure public health and safety. However, the currently adopted FM practices and systems suffer from shortcomings such as inadequate real-time updates, limited 3D visualization, and insufficient virtual systems monitoring. Consequently, the need to address these issues using smarter FM systems such as Digital Twin (DT) technology offering promising solutions requires deliberate discourse. This research focused on identifying key healthcare facility management issues amenable to DT solutions, using a mixed methodology, including literature review, case study, interviews, and prototyping to address the issues. The study developed four scenarios based on insights from the case study and interviews, guiding the development of a DT-based prototype system for healthcare FM. The prototype system integrates DT-enabling technologies such as virtual prototyping/modeling technologies, wireless sensors, data analytic techniques, communication networks, and mobile devices. The DT-based prototype system was used to monitor indoor air quality (IAQ) and visualize data on the 3D model of the healthcare facility. The effectiveness of the prototype system was validated by a focus group and it was concluded that this study provides a foundation for enhancing healthcare FM through the adoption of DT approaches. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->