Deploying 3D scanning based geometric digital twins during fabrication and assembly in offsite manufacturing

Abstract

Verifying geometric compliance in offsite manufacturing (OSM) is key for ensuring adequate fit-up, structural integrity, building system performance, and assembly alignment on site. The use of a geometric digital twin (gDT) from 3 D scanning can be used to digitize an assembly to detect and resolve potential problems in a prescient manner. The contribution of this article is the development of a framework for deploying and comparing three distinct gDT approaches for use during fabrication and assembly in OSM: (1) a scan-vs-BIM approach, (2) a scan-to-BIM approach and (3) a parametric BIM updating approach. Results from a commercial building project show that scan-vs-BIM is the most accurate approach, parametric BIM updating produces the most semantically rich gDT, and scan-to-BIM is a middle-tiered option, striking a balance between representational accuracy and semantic enrichment. This study concludes that future research should develop a hybrid solution of these gDT approaches and additional more accurate measurement technologies for optimal deployment in OSM.

Keywords:

• Digital twin
• quality control
• offsite manufacturing
• modular construction
• building information modelling
• laser scanning
• parametric design

Acknowledgements

Any opinions, findings, or recommendations made in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the stakeholders who have supported this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) under grant number CGSD3 - 516799 - 2018, and by Mitacs Accelerate and Edge Architects under grant number 53162-10151. The authors acknowledge the in-kind support of FARO Technologies Inc.