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Smart Cities With Digital Twin Systems For Disaster Management
Smart Cities With Digital Twin Systems For Disaster Management
Disaster Management
David N. Ford, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE 1; and Charles M. Wolf, Dr.Eng., P.E., M.ASCE 2
Abstract: Exploiting smart cities with digital twins (SCDT) requires the integration of sensing and simulation across diverse infrastruc-
ture systems into community management. Community disaster management can provide a valuable foundation for SCDT development.
The current work proposes and tests a conceptual model of a SCDT for disaster management and describes two threats to SCDT develop-
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ment that can be mitigated by focusing development on disaster management. Information loops, as opposed to individual components, are
identified as a critical future focus of SCDT development. Primary contributions include support for SCDT development for disaster
management, a conceptual SCDT for disaster management model, and a discussion of issues to be addressed in the development
and deployment of SCDT for disaster management. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000779. This work is made available under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Fig. 2. Disaster recovery phase simulation model. (Reprinted from Ford and Keith 2016.)
cyber-physical systems (e.g., Alam and Saddik 2017). Examples of that integrate with their environments (Grieves and Vickers 2017).
SCDT that cross infrastructure system boundaries are rare. Current Current definitions appear to be driven by the underlying objectives
efforts toward integration across infrastructures, such as in Shanghai of the digital twin developer. For example, some digital twin def-
(Li et al. 2018) and Atlanta, show potential. For example, in Atlanta, initions include a “link between a real world object and its digital
a virtual reality–based digital twin has been developed that allows representation that is continuously using data from the sensors”
for the investigation of human interactions with infrastructure (Intellectsoft US 2018), a “method of visualizing the feasibility
(Mohammadi and Taylor 2017). and better methods in a prompt and affordable manner by repro-
In summary, most disaster management models fail to address ducing systems and activities in the physical and digital worlds
one or both of the following: iterative disaster management proc- in real-time (like twins) by simulating control and management”
esses or community infrastructure interactions. SCDT can help ad- (NEC 2019), and “the virtual representation of a physical object
dress both gaps. A fully developed SCDT could provide integrated or system across its life-cycle” using “real-time data and other sour-
community-level data, images, and simulation, thereby closing the ces to enable learning, reasoning, and dynamically recalibrating for
disaster management loop virtually, and thereby improving fore- improved decision making” (Mikell and Mikell 2018). Digital twin
casting of the outcomes of anticipated actions and providing feed- development also varies across scale—from equipment to buildings
back on the impacts of actions taken. to cities. At the city scale, digital twins are used to support the as-
sessment of individual infrastructure system performance, such as
transportation or flood systems, when faced with an assumed set of
Improved Definitions input conditions (Li et al. 2018). In these applications, the digital
twins do not necessarily require the use of sensors to perform their
Smart city and digital twin definitions are evolving, with both terms function.
being used for various purposes. Some smart cities are defined based The variability in smart city and digital twin definitions poses a
on planning to be sustainable (Yigitcanlar et al. 2018) or to improve challenge when applying them to cities. By their nature, cities are
the quality of life without burdening future generations (Zhao 2011). difficult to model because they are combinations of dynamically
Other smart cities are defined by how they plan to be highly con- interacting infrastructures and populations that are subject to highly
nected digitally and use those data to improve transparency and gov- variable external influences, including atmospheric, hydrologic,
ernance (Caragliu et al. 2011), how they use advanced sensors to socioeconomic, or other factors. Definitions such as the aforemen-
collect and distribute critical data in real time to optimize resources tioned ones cannot adequately contribute to SCDT for community
and services to citizens (Hall et al. 2000), or how they use data to management or community disaster management purposes. Im-
improve the overall quality of life (Piro et al. 2014). Consistently in proved definitions for community disaster management are pro-
the literature, smart city definitions depend upon the target commun- posed next.
ity’s underlying goals, and this leads to a diversity of definitions.
Likewise, digital twin definitions are evolving. Work on product
Smart City
information by Grieves and NASA in the early 2000s evolved into
what are now known as digital twins. He suggested four types: pro- The city part of a smart city implies a communal benefit, versus
totypes, instances, aggregations of twins of subsystems, and twins benefits captured only by individuals or small portions of a
autonomous requirement distinguishes smart city systems from guishes between the smart city and digital twin parts of SCDT in
historical man-in-the-loop systems that depend on humans to man- two ways. First, smart cities collect and disseminate data, often in
ually collect data. Autonomy is particularly important in the appli- real time, but do not forecast future conditions. Second, digital
cation of the smart city concept to disaster management because twins do not collect condition data, but rather use collected data
humans are often unable to carry out functions during and after to create information and forecast potential futures. To support
disasters owing to an inability to get to required measurement lo- community disaster management, a SCDT must use current data
cations or information centers. (smart city) to drive a simulation (digital twin) that allows decision
To better meet these definitional needs, as used here, smart cities makers to assess and evaluate potential future conditions based on
are communities that use ICT to autonomously sense, store, and current conditions and possible impacts of decisions.
make current information on community conditions that is easily To better meet these definitional needs, as used here, a SCDT is
available to community leaders and citizens. a system of ICT sensors that develop data sets integrated into dig-
ital twin models that provide a dynamic ability to assess the future
impacts of current conditions and strategies in ways that improve
Digital Twin decision-making to achieve desired future results.
Two characteristics of a digital twin are needed to improve com-
munity disaster management decisions. First, the digital twin must
include one or more community images. These images can include Two Reasons to Develop SCDT for Disaster
community features, their characteristics, and the interactions among Management
community components. The images can take any of several forms,
including visual maps, lists of assets and their conditions or state of Developing SCDT that meet the previously given definitions poses
damage, or other forms of descriptions of conditions. Interactions challenges, notably understanding how to model complex interac-
among community components can be captured in qualitative mod- tions across city systems. Disaster management provides opportu-
els such as interaction diagrams or in the structures of quantitative nities to address these challenges in two ways. First, SCDT meet
models such as formal simulation models. These images are different the needs of disaster management particularly well. Second, disas-
than the raw data that are stored in the smart city portion of SCDT in ter management provides a microcosm for SCDT development, in-
that information value has been added by arranging and presenting tegration, and application.
the data into images for use in community disaster management.
Second, the digital twin may include one or more computer sim-
ulation models with the ability to bring multiple, nascent images SCDT Meets Disaster Management Needs Particularly
and data together to predict possible future conditions. While hu- Well
man mental models have historically been used to simulate future Developing SCDT for disaster management captures outsized ben-
conditions and should continue to play an important role in SCDT, efits through the synergy of unmet disaster management needs and
the complexities of community disaster management require com- SCDT capabilities. Effective disaster management requires condi-
puter simulations to accurately forecast features, characteristics, tion data on multiple, diverse, connected infrastructures simultane-
and interactions. For example, a digital twin of a large stormwater ously. For example, evacuation decisions based on coordinated
basin could use information from a flood map in a model of the evacuation route traffic volumes and flooded highways data are bet-
interactions between flooding and roadways to predict the location ter than decisions based on transportation or storm drainage system
and capacity of available egress routes much more accurately than data alone. Further, selecting efficient resource allocations in each
any human. Optimally, a community’s digital twin would predict of the four disaster management phases among several alternatives
conditions across all critical infrastructure systems. requires diverse data sets that human capital is often unable to
The images and outputs from simulations in a digital twin must collect and disseminate due to the event. How can managers ac-
also inform decision-making. One measure of success should be the quire all the data needed to choose effective and efficient strategies
value of decision support provided by the image or simulation out- during a disaster? Some existing smart city technologies are par-
put. Therefore, interinfrastructure digital twins can provide much ticularly well suited for disaster data collection and transmission
more value than single-system digital twins alone. For example, because they can operate without humans to provide information
a flooding/transportation digital twin that provides both available to managers, provided they are supplied with the capabilities to
egress routes and alternatives to flooded roadways is more valuable continue performing in disaster conditions. Flood gauges with au-
than a flood map and flooding predictions alone or a roadway map tomated reporting are an example. The development of smart city
and traffic congestion forecasts alone. technologies for disaster management will improve data collection
primary and secondary impacts of disaster management decisions ports SCDT development by accelerating the foundational work
impossible for humans alone. How can disaster managers accu- of a broader community management SCDT without the need to
rately forecast the interdependent impacts of their decisions? solve all community management challenges while building the
Causal simulation models integrated as digital twins with smart city initial system.
technologies can capture these interactions and explain how manage- Since disaster managers are more concerned with community
ment choices influence multiple community systems and disaster operations than fidelity of model representations to actual appear-
management performance metrics. By providing disaster managers ance, a disaster management SCDT can focus on functionality in-
with accurate forecasts of the impacts of their choices and an im- stead of visual presentation. This can speed the development of an
proved understanding of those forecasts, SCDT can improve disaster effective SCDT and ease long-term maintenance. In a disaster, the
outcomes. best use of a digital twin would be to exploit its power to explain the
Some disaster management strategies are likely to dominate in interactions of physical and social infrastructures with strategies
many common disaster/community circumstances. For example, within the community and their impacts on the community. There-
experience shows that restoring electrical power can speed recovery fore, digital twin developers do not need to create a perfect mirror
because many other community functions depend on that power. image of a city, only a functional image it—something that can be
Other lessons about effective strategies may be disaster or commu- accomplished with existing systems modeling approaches and much
nity specific. For example, after a hurricane, the availability of res- less data.
Finally, disaster management provides a functional testbed with
idences may constrain the size of the construction workforce and
relatively deep data sets that can be used to test and develop con-
therefore recovery (including the rebuilding of residences), making
fidence in the ability of a SCDT to support a community through
this a critical management focus. But this may not be true after an
a disaster experience. While no two disasters are identical, the data
earthquake, where disruptions to transportation networks could
streams leaders need, and decisions leaders must make, are relatively
have the highest impact. How can disaster managers learn, espe-
consistent. For example, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes all
cially during disaster mitigation and preparation, about the strat-
destroy or damage residences, forcing community leaders to make
egies that will perform best during disaster response and recovery?
decisions about temporary housing and the allocation of scarce re-
Digital twins of communities provide opportunities to learn through
sources for rebuilding. Since data sets from previous disasters are
fast, inexpensive virtual simulation–based strategy testing and exper-
relatively available, disaster management provides a platform to test
imentation. Many valuable disaster management lessons are likely
SCDT and generate relatively quick insights into the performance
available through the development and exercise of generic commu- and benefits of proposed SCDT solutions.
nity digital twins, such as sequences and capacity levels of com-
munity infrastructures that, if restored, improve recovery speed and
quality. Community- and disaster-specific strategies can also be
Disaster Management with SCDT
developed and tested with digital twins that reflect specific circum-
stances. Therefore, the development of SCDT for disaster manage- To facilitate the development of a model of a SCDT that supports
ment can accelerate learning about disaster management strategies disaster management, a sample of publicly available literature in
and thereby improve disaster experiences for communities. These research journals, mass market publications, SCDT project reports,
benefits make community disaster management particularly attrac- and community and corporate webpages were searched for infor-
tive as a setting for SCDT development. mation on smart city and digital twin projects; 378 publications
were reviewed. Of these, 198 described applications to a specific
community or community system (versus a technology or single
Disaster Management Provides a Microcosm for SCDT
asset, for example). Adequate information was collected to assess
Development, Integration, and Application
47 smart city, digital twin, or SCDT systems describing the
Developing a SCDT for an entire community and its associated community, infrastructure system, scale of application, level of de-
management decisions is a significant jump for the technologies and velopment, smart city description, digital twin description, and ap-
approaches that exist today. Work to date typically addresses indi- plication to disaster management. Within these systems, 66% (31)
vidual infrastructure systems to improve communication of condi- modeled transportation systems, 38% (18) modeled water utility
tions. But there are exceptions, such as the Flood Early Warning systems, 28% (13) modeled buildings or facility management sys-
System in Austin, Texas. This system uses continuous data collection tems, 11% (5) modeled electric utilities, 6% (3) modeled waste sys-
and models of natural drainage patterns to generate precise flood tems, and 6% (3) modeled environment systems. Totals do not
maps and future impacts to roadways, thus providing linkage of equal 100% (47) because some of the systems included multiple
types of infrastructure systems. Descriptions of the systems re- characteristic is not changed until a management decision is made
viewed are available from the authors. to leave that element in its damaged state. Thus, the disaster event is
The review identified components of a SCDT that could be used assumed to only impact the condition of the community, while
to support the iterative disaster management model described in management decisions can impact community features and com-
Fig. 1. The model in Fig. 3 (created with Microsoft PowerPoint) munity conditions. Finally, the SCDT generates insights that drive
shows the minimum combination of components and information fundamental changes in perspectives about the community during
flows for a SCDT to effectively support community disaster man- and after a disaster event. These lessons learned impact planning
agement. Like the iterative model in Fig. 1, this model describes and management decisions and sensor choices.
disaster management with continuous SCDT monitoring of com- The smart city component (Fig. 3, Smart City box) includes the
munity conditions to reflect the impacts of decisions as they are sensors that generate data necessary to drive the SCDT. These data
made and actions as they are implemented. However, the model can be used for two purposes: (1) as input for simulation and adjust-
also shows how lessons learned from the SCDT can be used to ments to the digital twin, and (2) as data presented to community
improve decision-making and the sensor capabilities of the SCDT residents and leaders for decision-making. The data for presenta-
itself. tion does not necessarily have to be graphic to be effective in the
The model has three principal parts: (1) components that are not smart city component. Road closure information provided to driv-
a part of the SCDT itself but are impacted either directly by the ers on electronic billboards, for example, is a form of data presen-
SCDT or through lessons learned from the SCDT, (2) smart city tation that is not graphic that could be part of a disaster management
components, and (3) digital twin components. The three parts of SCDT. Color-coded current traffic speeds is a form of data for pre-
the model are described next. sentation that is graphic. Both can provide the community with
Some of the model components (shaded in Fig. 3) exist outside a immediately beneficial information in a disaster event.
smart city or digital twin. These components connect the SCDT to The digital twin component (Fig. 3 Digital Twin box) includes a
the community and the disaster event and include Community Con- suite of tools that use data from the smart city to generate digital
ditions, Community Features and Characteristics, and Lessons images of a community, as well as simulation modeling to provide
Learned from Community Simulation Model and Digital Image decision makers with predictive information about future condi-
Tools. These components also include information on community tions. Digital image tools include models of the various physical
decision-making and the resulting impacts of those decisions on the and nonphysical infrastructure systems that define the community
community’s ability to respond to the event. Community Features and its interactions. In addition, those images can, and optimally
and Characteristics overlay the SCDT and define the community should, also reflect the spatial constraints associated with the
infrastructure systems (e.g., the maximum capacity of the freeway community. Some digital twins of specific hazards and disaster
system). Management decisions directly impact community features management issues address these needs (e.g., Kim et al. 2006).
and characteristics with respect to timing and capacity/capability. Digital twins for communities need to do the same on a larger
For instance, a management decision to focus on the recovery of scale. The Community Simulation Model uses information from
housing infrastructure (e.g., by clearing debris) will increase the the digital image tools and the real-world community’s infrastruc-
housing capacity by increasing the space available for housing and ture systems features and characteristics to predict future condi-
thereby have an impact on the ability of the workforce (a commu- tions. Future conditions could be impacted by current system
nity feature) to return to the impacted area. In contrast, Community conditions or by decisions that alter the community features and
Conditions define the performance or utilization of those infrastruc- characteristics.
ture systems. Building on the housing example, the percentage of Finally, the arrows in the model indicate flows of information or
housing available for workforce housing would be a community actions that impact community conditions. Together, the SCDT
condition. Community conditions can be impacted by an external components and information flows describe several loops that show
event, such as a disaster, management decisions, decisions by the how information within a SCDT could be iteratively used through-
public, or by changes to community features and characteristics out a disaster to make decisions and to assess the efficacy of those
that alter the limiting capacities of an infrastructure system. In some decisions. For example, sensors could provide traffic speed data for
disaster events, such as major tornadoes or earthquakes, community presentation that are immediately distributed to the public and other
features and characteristics are fundamentally altered. However, decision makers, whose decisions about evacuation will impact
this model is built to assist community leaders with the use of road closures, congestion, and traffic speeds, which will be reflected
SCDT for disaster management. As such, a community feature or in updated speed data.