Chapter 2
Building a Bridge between Building Information Modeling and Digital Twins: Introducing Invariant Signatures of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Objects
Publication: Digital Twins in Construction and the Built Environment
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the discovery of invariant signatures of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) objects, how it helps with Building Information Modeling (BIM) interoperability and in turn may benefit the development of digital twins. It couples the demonstration of invariant signatures with the industry foundation classes (IFC) standard as many BIM software platforms support IFC import/export. Three main types of invariant signatures include geometric signatures, locational signatures, and materials signatures, whereas other types of signatures (such as metadata and higher order) can always be added per the task at hand. Proven successes were introduced in the use of invariant signatures in supporting BIM interoperability between architectural design and construction management, architectural design and structural analysis, architectural design and building code compliance checking, and architectural/MEP design and energy modeling and simulation.
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Data Availability Statement
All data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation (NSF). This material is based on work supported by the NSF under Grants Nos. 1745374 and 1827733. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.
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Digital Twins in Construction and the Built Environment
Pages: 37 - 62
Editors: Houtan Jebelli, Ph.D., Somayeh Asadi, Ph.D., Ivan Mutis, Ph.D., Rui Liu, Ph.D., and Jack Cheng, Ph.D.
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8560-6
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© 2024 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Sep 23, 2024
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