Towards integrated digital twins for construction and manufacturing

Abstract: A digital twin (DT) can enhance construction management with comprehensive real-time simulations. However, research rarely considers prefabrication factories, whose processes have a significant impact on cost and duration. It remains unclear how construction DTs can achieve their expected benefits without dynamically interacting with the DTs of manufacturing facilities. To address this, a DT integration model is proposed. It builds upon systems theory and describes integration across the three layers objectives, processes, and data & tools. A theoretical example demonstrates potential benefits of integrated DTs. This work can assist researchers and practitioners who are focusing on DTs in the execution phase.