Digital twin based lifecycle modeling and state evaluation of cable-stayed bridges

This paper proposes a digital twin (DT) modeling method for the lifecycle state evaluation of cable-stayed bridges, which cover a large time scale and simultaneously involve macroscopic and microcosmic exploration. First, the DT model at the design stage corresponds to the computer-aided design (CAD) model and then evolves to the computer-aided engineering (CAE) model during the construction stage. After that, the DT model for the operational stage starts from the completion model of the bridge and keeps evolving with the bridge physical entity in the long-term service. An information interaction media is used for the information interchange between the DT model and the bridge physical entity. And a fidelity index gives the quantitative estimation of similarity between the DT model and the bridge physical entity. Finally, the proposed method has been verified against a cable-stayed bridge model, whose DT model could reflect the actual state evolution of the physical entity.