Digital Twin Development for Structural Analysis

The final research focus will investigate the creation of a digital twin of a case-study historic structure, addressing the challenges of reliable geometry and reliable data for the computational analysis of complex historic structures using real-time information. This research focus seeks to use monitoring tools and the Internet of Things technology to obtain data from historic structures in real time.

The unit typology, bond pattern, and inter-wythe connection type will be determined in collaboration with the grant partners, based on the identification of gaps in the practical knowledge of historic structures in Eastern Canada. Structural health monitoring technology will be set up on the URM wall, including a digital accelerometer and crack meters, to measure accumulating damage and calculate dynamic properties through stages of loading.

Testing of material samples will allow for the replication of material properties from the wall in the computational model. Monitoring tools such as the digital accelerometer will enable the calibration of the computational model in real time, calculated from the natural period of vibration of the wall, simulating a continuous digital replication of the existing conditions. 

Following each iteration of testing on the experimental assembly, the same loading conditions will be simulated on the computational model, and the results will be compared. The expected outcome will outline in detail the process for creating reliable computational models that are representative of complex historic structures.