Asset Management of Existing Concrete Bridges Using Digital Twins and BIM: a State-of-the-Art Literature Review

The need to optimize investments in bridge maintenance has created a demand for improved bridge management systems (BMS). Outdated practices in bridge inspection and constant advances in information technology have also contributed to this demand. The use of Digital Twins (DT), although well established in other industries, is still incipient for asset management and structural analysis of bridges. There is a great deal of research on Building Information Modelling (BIM) for bridge inspection, but its post-construction potential is still under-explored. This study presents a state-of-the-art review of the literature on asset management for bridges using digital models such as BIM and digital twins. The review was conducting using a systematic approach. Despite the rapid increase in research on DT and the amount of existing research on BIM, several gaps remain to be addressed, such as the lack of consensus about the definition of digital twins, which has led to wrongful categorisation of digital models as DT. The complex data flow and software compatibility required to develop a functional DT have hindered the exploitation of their full potential so far. The integration of BIM post-construction to BMS and existing automation technologies can also significantly improve current practices of bridge management.