Digital Twin as Circularity Enabler of Façades in Maintenance
A Research into How A Digital Twin Can Facilitate the Circularity Maintenance of Façades
B.M.A. van Schaik (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
A Koutamanis – Mentor (TU Delft - Design & Construction Management)
B. Torun – Mentor (TU Delft - Numerical Analysis)
C.J. Janssen – Coach (TU Delft - Building Physics)
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Abstract
Maintenance plays a vital part in the Circular Economy (CE). Repairing, upgrading and restoring façades extends their lifecycle and reduces waste. The European Union and Dutch government have set goals to reach a circular future: in 2050 the built environment must be 100% circular. However, this demands a tremendous change in the current maintenance system. Façades are often maintained for the service life of only 50 years. Therefore, the quality at end-of-life is usually low. Additionally, due to issues in information capture and management, the condition at end-of-life is also challenging to determine. Therefore, façades are discarded as waste, sometimes way before they are at their actual end-of-life. Furthermore, to increase the circular potential of façades, the existing maintenance system requires change. In this research, an investigation is done into how the current maintenance system can be facilitated towards circular maintenance utilizing digital technologies. Inspections on façade defects are currently carried out manually. Afterwards, this information is stored and maintained manually in real estate software. Visual inspections and information systems are prone to human errors. Therefore, a study is done into the automation of the existing maintenance system to facilitate communication between parties. The Digital Twin (DT) is a real-time computer-generated BIM-model of the mother building, using sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) to capture data. Existing detection technologies are compared with detection sensors from literature, like infrared thermography and fibre sensors. The influence of the recommended sensors on the existing maintenance process is determined. The output of this is a new maintenance system using a DT to increase the circularity potential of façades.