With the World Economic Forum ranking the United States 13th in its annual Global Competitiveness Report, the group states that by grasping the opportunity to replace outdated methods with current technologies by going digital, it can help improve safety, productiv - ity, and delivery times, as well as lower operating and maintenance costs, to level the playing field and ensure America’s infrastructure is competitive on the world stage. The Future of Infrastructure Here Today It is not going to be easy, and for sure there will be twists in the road, gaps in the track, and bridges to cross, but I think we’re at a tipping point. Today, there is clear evidence within the projects our users around the world are engaged upon, that going digital, including with the use of digital twins, is already reimagining the future of infrastruc - ture. That Bentley’s most innovative and visionary owners, operators, consultants, contractors, and inspectors are leading the way in terms of delivering different and improved outcomes across the infrastructure asset lifecycle, including: • Foth is going digital with Bentley. to improve roadway conditions and traffic flow, as well as providing nonvehicular access, to University Av - enue in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Hired to develop a comprehensive transporta - tion plan for the roadway, and faced with technical, engineering, and coordination challenges — compounded by aggressive timelines and intense public involvement, Foth used Bentley’s open applications to co - ordinate modeling, reduce conflicts, and expedite design by an estimated 50 percent, saving over half a million USD in construction costs. Foth’s digital twin approach optimized data accessibility and increased the ef - ficiency of its interactions with the public and stakeholders, to deliver an innovative, multimodal roadway design that is projected to realize 32 million USD in ROI for the owner over the next 25 years. • Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Collins Engineers. With over 20,000 bridges in the state of Minnesota, it is important to inspect each one regularly so that they can be properly maintained over the course of their life. With the majority of engineers office based, inspectors found it difficult to relay what they were see - ing in the field through pictures and reports, so MnDOT and Collins began working with Bentley with the objective of using technology to improve the inspection workflow. Microsoft’s HoloLens2 and Azure Remote Rendering leveraged within Bentley’s AssetWise Inspections, provided a unique way of bringing the bridge into the office. Today, digital twins of the state’s bridges accurately represent the physical asset in the real world, putting increased levels of information at the fingertips of engineers. Harnessing the power of digital twins has trans - formed the inspection process, making the measurement of cracks and defects possible in the safety and comfort of the office, and saving up to 40 percent in total costs. • Highways England (HE), the government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining, and improving England’s motorways and highways, recently announced its Digital, Data and Technology Strategy in support of their wider strategic business plan. In it, HE sets a 4-year approach to how they will achieve their key objectives of providing safer, smoother, and more reliable journeys for their cus - tomers. Already using digital twins to improve the design and test the
strength of their strategic road network for the benefit of the road users and operators, HE uses maps to navigate its “smart motorway digital twin” to access critical asset management information, enabling better decision-making across the organization. • Italferr S.p.A. is going digital with Bentley. On August 14, 2018 in Genoa, Italy a 210-meter section of the 1,182-meter Morandi Bridge over the Polcevera River suddenly collapsed, killing 43 people, de - stroying buildings below and resulting in multiple casualties. Italferr, the consulting and project company of Italian Railways, established a connected data environment to manage the flow of multidiscipline data and establish clear operating methods, emphasizing collaboration. Defining standards, templates, and basic criteria to create and curate a digital twin, including all the information required to form the basis for design, construction, and operation. The creation of efficient opera - tional methods within a BIM environment enabled Italferr to reduce design costs, accelerate design decisions, increase accuracy, and im - prove communication among the multidiscipline team. And, on August 3, 2020, some of the pride of the nation returned, with the inauguration of the new Viaduct San Giorgio. • Skanska, Costain, STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV) is going digital with Bentley. SCS JV were contracted to perform civil works on the first phase of High Speed 2, a new high-speed rail network that will run through London, Manchester, and Leeds, and form the backbone of Britain’s transport network. SCS JV is working in a connected data environment (CDE) with Bentley’s open applications, streamlining workflows allowed the team to shorten design review time by 20 per - cent, saving an estimated USD 700,000. SCS JV was able to identify potential errors earlier in the process, saving over a million dollars in construction costs. And, by extracting data directly from its digital twin of the project, its 5D+ approach helped increase the accuracy of material quantities, while measuring the cost in CO2 to improve the sustainability of design and construction. Project of the Future – The Path Ahead A lot of the topics covered within this opinion piece are encapsulated in the Global Infrastructure Initiatives summary report from its 2021 summit, which shares the voices and perspectives of business leaders from across geographies and sectors. The Project of the Future highlights how targeted infrastructure invest - ment can drive different and improved outcomes. How climate change and carbon reduction, while a social, economic, and political issue, is an engineering problem to solve, and with the inclusion of decarbon - ization, sustainable materials and methods, we can define new criteria for project success. It looks at how organizations need to adopt a more collaborative approach, including moving from experience-based to data-driven decision-making. And, at Bentley we believe that digital twins, which provide timely access to data infrastructure professionals can trust, deliver new levels of insight to the challenges they face, and in turn improves decisions throughout the lifecycle of infrastructure assets that support every aspect of our lives.
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september 2021
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