buildingTwin – Open platform for monitoring, evaluation and optimization of building operation

In the construction industry, digital building models (Building Information Model; BIM) are used in the planning phases, but these models cannot develop their potential after the building is put into operation and are therefore often only archived.

When transferring BIM models of a building from the planning to the operational phase, large information gaps currently occur as a result of incomplete information transfer. By converting data into different formats, information is often lost, which then has to be retrieved and re-integrated into the model.

In this project the basis to carry the concept of the digital building twin from the planning phase to the operational phase is developed for the construction industry. This creates a synergy effect in that the digital building model that was built in the planning phase can be transferred to the operational phase. However, the digital twin of a building in operation consists not only of the planning information, but also of additional real operational data. By coupling with real-time data of the

building, intelligent models can make a major contribution in the operation phase to optimize control and thereby minimize operating costs and increase user comfort.

An open BIM-based platform developed in the project acts as a central system in which a wide variety of data from different sources is aggregated, processed, analyzed and displayed in 3D. With this basis, all building data can be optimally structured, analyzed and further processed over the entire life cycle of a project. Based on the digital twin created in this way, targeted optimizations and simulations are possible.