What is a digital twin?
What is a digital twin?
A digital twin is a dynamic, up-to-date replica of a physical asset that brings together design, construction and operational data. With the addition of real-time operational data, digital twins acquire the behavioral awareness necessary to simulate, predict and inform decisions based on real-world conditions.
Why you need a digital twin
Digital twins provide the means to transform the built asset lifecycle. As the digital replica is enriched with operational building data, it becomes possible to predict system failures before they happen, perform “what-If” simulations, and provide rich insights into the operation, performance, and utilization of the built asset. The knowledge accumulated can be used to plan future projects and improve design decisions for better ROI.
The maturity of digital twins in the AEC industry
Creating a digital twin is often a manual, expensive, and highly bespoke process. Autodesk Tandem was designed to make the process of creating a digital twin highly repeatable, resulting in a digital twin accessible to everyone. Verdantix proposed a five-step maturity model for digital twins that clearly lays out the business benefits of each tier. With Autodesk Tandem, we have started the journey focused on delivering workflows to curate a descriptive digital twin and harnessing the BIM process and data. As we continue to develop Autodesk Tandem, we will help our customers move up the maturity model step-by-step, enabling them to take advantage of their operational benefits.
How we’re making digital twins accessible for AEC firms & Owners
As the leaders in BIM (Building Information Modeling), Autodesk is enabling AEC firms to build digital twins from existing BIM workflows, and unlock the full power of data right from the beginning, making digital twins truly accessible to owners for the first time.
Building on BIM
BIM already generates the foundational data for a digital twin during project planning and design. Many firms are familiar with different teams sharing data in a connected way. A digital twin requires the integration of systems and data across workflows, between stakeholders, with multi-disciplinary models at the core, making BIM the most logical path to high-value digital twins.
Standardizing data structures
Standards for classifying building data and parameters used in the modeling process differ between firms. Autodesk focuses on normalizing the data to meet owner requirements. During a project, as data is captured or created, it will be normalized into the digital twin via classification schemes specified by the facility owner.
Enabling a repeatable and scalable process
Autodesk is establishing a workflow to specify the project’s operational and data requirements in collaboration with the facility owner so, data may be captured seamlessly during design and construction, while the project team verifies completeness at each milestone. This enables a highly accurate digital twin that can be commissioned and handed over in an easily repeatable way.
