At the proposal of the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (UTCB), to contribute to the development of sustainable projects, Leviatan Design – a leading construction company in Romania – joined the NetZeroCities project. Thus, three students from CESI Brest (Ecole d’ingénieurs CESI), who were on an internship at UTCB, along with another three students from the prestigious construction university in Bucharest, benefited from the support provided by Leviatan’s specialists. By supporting this initiative, the company reaffirmed its role as a promoter of private sector involvement in the training and development of future construction specialists, contributing to the development of sustainable projects. Following a long tradition in which the Bucharest firm has offered constant support to the academic environment and has been involved in delivering sustainable projects, Leviatan’s specialists provided consultancy and advice to the UTCB project team, for the development of Digital Twin models for the EFdeN prototype building, as well as for a single-family house located in an urban environment..
Digital Twin, an extremely useful tool in the economy of modern construction
Romina Posea, Head of Planning & Continuous Improvement Office at Leviatan Design & Ubitech Construcții: “Leviatan brought the practical part regarding the creation of a Digital Twin. Even though universities are connected to the latest technological developments, their approach often regards only the theoretical side. That’s why they turned to our group of companies, which is strongly anchored in the experience of using technologies in real projects, to offer them the necessary support. Thus, we bring to the forefront concrete solutions that exist on the Romanian market and provide valuable know-how both in terms of design and execution of works. Within our organization, we have two architects trained for the creation of passive houses, and the area of sustainability is one in which we are involved and develop, being one in which clients/beneficiaries need strong support. This customer support is especially in the relationship with the authorities, which already impose typical nZEB conditions regarding sustainable development, in accordance with the newest European directives on this topic. Also, at the group level, we test and implement a dedicated platform for Digital Twin, for everything this entails in the stages of design and execution. Practically, all the documentation resulting from an as-build project is reflected in the ‘digital twin’.
To these documents, the layer of the 3D As build model is added, obtained through a phased scanning of the objective, to achieve as faithful a reflection as possible of all construction details. During execution, the results of these processes are compared with the designed 3D model, to ensure compatibility and complete correctness of the execution, as well as an exact transposition of the design model into reality. Finally, all specialties (structure, installations, architecture, including finishing elements, furnishing, equipping, etc.) are overlaid and introduced into a dedicated platform.
Ideally, the smart digital twin allows the real building to communicate with the Digital Twin through sensors, IoT, and others, to constantly update the digital model, create scenarios, predictions, and optimizations. It is populated with a series of other information, not just from sensors, but with all technical details, which constitutes an extremely useful tool in the optimal exploitation and maintenance of the construction”.
Identity between the as-build project and the 3D model resulting from the design process
At the practical training stage, from UTCB participated Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Cristiana Croitoru and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Mihnea Sandu, from the Department of Thermo-hydraulic Systems and Atmospheric Protection, who emphasized that the French students came within an exchange of experience, being engaged in the research projects currently underway at the university in Bucharest. “This year’s theme referred to the creation of a final Digital Twin model of the EFdeN building, located in the courtyard of our institution. Leviatan Design is an old partner of ours, and we relied on the company’s experience to clarify the Digital Twin model and to align as much as possible the research/education part with the practical one. From our point of view, Leviatan Design is a model of good practices in construction activity, and that’s why we chose to start this collaboration, which would familiarize the project participants especially with the overlaid design system of all specialties, to avoid collisions,” declared Cristiana Croitoru.
In turn, Mihnea Sandu emphasized that “the BIM master’s program launching this year at UTCB is mainly oriented towards the structural part, and our task is to make the necessary efforts to include the installations in this modern concept. What we consider very important is that, after completing the project, using modern digital tools, the BIM system should be further used in execution, ensuring the identity between the as-build construction and the model resulting from the design process”.
Digitization of design, execution, and exploitation will lead to an improvement in the quality of the built environment
Kevin Leroy, Phillipe Clerant, and Jean Baptiste, the three students within the Ecole d’ingénieurs CESI, Faculty of Civil Engineering, who participated in the project, showed in turn that “the experience gained by being at UTCB and Leviatan Design was very useful.
Our task was to create a digital twin of an existing building, which was a very difficult endeavor, just compiling all the information collected from the field being done in a three-week interval. It was useful for us, as future civil engineers, to identify especially the differences that exist between the built environment in Romania and that in France. Already, according to practices in our country, even during our studies, we are engaged within construction companies and thus had the opportunity to come into contact with the professional environment. We consider that the time spent here and the information collected on this occasion will help us a lot in our future career as engineers, and the details provided by the specialists at Leviatan Design will prove to be extremely valuable, given that Digital Twin and BIM are already concepts that have wide use and will lead to an improvement in the way modern constructions are designed, executed, and exploited”.
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