12/5/22

Civil Engineering @
University of Toronto

Infrastructure Ontario Data Analysis

6 December 2022

Prof. Tamer E. El-Diraby, PhD., PEng.

Professor
Director, Digital Twining Ctr
University of Toronto

The University of Toronto

Prof: Frederick Banting (right) and Charles Best (left).

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Agenda

• Missconceptualizations about Digital twins

• The design of U of Toronto digital twin

• Upgrading the use of BIM to support DT

Overview

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A Digital Twin is for?

Not just a digitization

Analytics
Not only Engineering
Not even e-business
Not even sustainable built environment Building as a
Big/real
time data platform for Occupant
innovation
• It is about creating whole futures digitally before building them
BIM

• Can we make buildings sustainable not by restricting design, but by

innovation. Can we do that not by just engaging occupants, but by

empowering them to co-create regenerative solutions.

DT definition
• Data
• Facility data
• Operational data
• Occupant data
• Futures and simulations
• Energy models
• Operational schemes
• Analytics
• Business intelligence
• User profiling
• Predictive analytics
• People empowerment
• Innovation Image credit: Keith Shaw and Josh Fruhlinger: What is a digital twin and why it's
important to IoT
• New green business models Network World | JAN 31, 2019

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What is a digital twin?

• A digital twin is a physical-cyber-social system

• Business process modeling is integral to DT

• Profiling operator needs is essential to the success of DT

what Data portal Analytics Simulation/modeling

Physical assets Interoperability Trends, predictions Prescriptive modeling

Work process Real-time systems Business intelligence Process reengineering

People Easy access Responsive systems innovation

Types of DT

• DT is meant to capture decision process

• It is about imagining new variations to make better design
and run buildings better.
• It is a chance to test scenarios
Networked machine Transformer text How to examine
learning mining results

How to present
BIM+ Knowledge graphs
results

How to justify
Simulation Generative system
results

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Digital Twin at U of Toronto

Data portal

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Beyond BIM

Cross-item analytics of data Cross-building analytics of items and data

• Understand user needs

• Integrate data types

• Allow users to generate reports Access rights

• Allow users to conduct analytics Item data cube Item data cube

Usage
• Monitor usage patterns

• Analyze usage
Interactive
3D Model

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Data portal

• Extract data from different sources

• Offer users access to analytics

• Show users trends

• Enable users to evaluate the decisions they are

about to make

Trends in Building age vs condition index and needed repairs

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Linking Unstructured data to BIM

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Industry foundation classes

• IFC models the physical and

geometry of building

elements

• It enables viewing the

building in 3D, 4D or 5D

• It communicates essential

facts about building

elements

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Diverse structured data

• Data about the physical

aspects of a building are not

in the same format (not all

of them use IFC)

• Every user generates new

and different data

• Every use uses different data

at different times

• The solution: create maps

between data

Borrmann, A., König, M., Koch, C., & Beetz, J. (2018). Building Information Modeling Technology
Foundations and Industry Practice: Technology Foundations and Industry Practice.

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IFC is week on conceptualization

• ISO 12006: “International Framework for Dictionaries” (IFD).

definition of classification systems.

• Identification of a concept is provided by a Globally Unique

Identifier (GUID) and not its term in a particular language

(e.g. “door knob”).

• “buildingSMART Data Dictionary” (bSDD): The reference

implementation of this data model, which currently contains

some 60,000 concepts in multiple languages.

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Text mining

• Use text mining to find keywords

• Arrange the words as a network of terms

• Use network algebra and analytics to find

clusters of terms

• Study the links between words

• Extract topics: related terms

• Instead of a bag of terms, use a cluster of

terms

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30 clusters (topics)

• A topic is a cluster of words

that appear together

frequently

• These topics are not the same

for every organization

• The topics change as the

dialogue and contents of the

documents change

• They synthesize the issues that

are related to managing

buildings

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Annotate BIM objects with unstructured data

• Use BIM to support generating better designs and operations plans

• Link clusters of words to their corresponding building element

• Annotate BIM with everything we know from documents

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Green 2.0

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Business intelligence

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It is about the patterns, not the numbers

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Analytics: Heat Map of Data attributes

• Additional attributes inferred:

• System_count: Number of systems in
asset
• Req_count: Number of requirements in
system
• Avg_req_per_asset: Average number of
requirements in asset
• We hope to collect more technical (# of rooms,
etc.) and functional (occupancy) data

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Budget vs. Age vs. Actual Cost of Action

• Colour indicates component rating. Darker means better

rating (Excellent) and lighter indicates worse (Poor)

• Estimated cost of action shows no obvious relationship with

age or Base Building budget (FCI cost)

• Most buildings are concentrated in the lower Base Building

budget (FCI Cost) range

• There is no obvious relationship between actual cost of

action and Base Building FCI Cost, nor between actual cost of

action and Age

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Automation

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Automated code checking

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Automated processes

• Technology is no longer passive, and they are having a

more active role in utilizing data-based smart systems.

• Technologies are now smart enough to engage in the

processes prior to and during their occurrence;

• Through integration with IoT and Machine learning

algorithms, BIM is becoming more intelligent, and soon it

will be able to detect patterns and propose solutions all by

itself.

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Generative design

• Build what is needed: e.g., post-COVID, online services will reduce Prioritization System
• Funding options
Existing supporting models
• ROI estimation • Climate models
the need for new facilities .
• Resiliency models
• Community impact
• Design-to-value: develop design options to eliminate elements that
models
drive up costs.
Scenario Analysis Platform
• Project options
• Quantify uncertainties: e.g., the impacts of climate change on Predictive Modeling
• Scenario generation
• Scenario costing • Deterioration
buildings’ performance. • Estimated costs
• Performance estimation
• Maintain a life-cycle perspective: enumerate, calculate and embed

lifecycle costs in all decisions. Infrastructure Data Model
• Products
• Synchronize projects: instead of project-by-project funding, bundle • Processes
• Actors
projects into funding scenarios. • Boundary conditions
• Constraints
• Coordinate knowledge flows: enhance process structures and data
Data Management Protocols
• Data to collect
• Collection process
• Quality standards
• Quality assurance
• Governance

flows

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Knowledge graphs: from terms to rules

• Discover the rules in text

• Reason about text contents

The relationship “affect”

The relationship “is completed” The relationship “includes”

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Thanks

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Backup slides

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Knowing which data you have. Survival bias

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Non-causal models

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The accuracy issue

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What the DT is currently doing

Structured data Unstructured data Explainable AI

Analytics of expanded performance

• The asset Networked machine Transformer text How to examine
• The AM process learning mining results
• The (AM) decision making system

Insightful authoring of options

• Embed climate issues in option development How to present
BIM+ Knowledge graphs
• Assess/advice on the AM best practices results
• Enhance communication

Virtualization for decision making

• Prescriptive modeling How to justify
• Scenario analysis Simulation Generative system
results
• Decision optimization

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Topics detected in 6 months data

• Report to the facility manager of key issues based on analytic of

BIM-based data

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Topics detected in 6 months data

• Report to the facility manager of key issues based on analytic of

BIM-based data

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Topics detected in 6 months data

• Report to the facility manager of key issues based on analytic of

BIM-based data

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Topic granularity

• We can look for finer topics

• Note: the topic is not just about technical issues; contractual issues can be captured (key to
process/project management and troubleshooting)

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