Ángel Yagüe

The integration of digital twins (DTs) in construction is still in its infancy compared to other sectors. However, the potential for optimising project lifecycle management is significant, promising transformative impacts on safety and operational performance. In this study, the evolution of technologies preceding DTs is explored. A detailed description of the various platforms where DTs can be implemented is discussed and parallels are established with other sectors, such as manufacturing and healthcare, highlighting the successful application of DTs in these fields. The key benefits of integrating DTs in the construction industry and complex infrastructure management are assessed, emphasising that the accuracy of asset representation is crucial for their effective utilisation. Moreover, the challenges associated with recording, storing, and accessing both static and dynamic data are discussed, providing insights into the pros and cons of managing data through back-end versus front-end processes. Case studies of a transport railway station and an educational centre illustrate the practical applications and advantages of DTs, such as enhanced visual representation, improved understanding of construction and management dynamics, real-time information integration, and collaborative management processes. This paper advocates for the first steps toward establishing a European definition of DTs and standardising the relevant processes.

In geotechnical engineering, very often, the soil behavior varies with time. This is of particular interest in many cases such as embankments in soft clays, shear band progression in slopes or where the speed of the application of the load affects the bearing capacity of the material. In this paper, we study the extension of non-local failures using algorithms such as eigenerosion and eigensoftening, in order to evaluate the failure of weak layers. In particular, the time dependence of the progression of shear bands is analyzed through the integration of a Perzyna-type visco-plastic model with a degradation algorithm within the Optimal Transportation Meshfree (OTM) framework. The validation of the proposed algorithm is carried out through three different practical cases, showing very good agreement in all of them.

Entrainment of saturated bed material increases the mobility of fast landslides. The distribution of excess pore pressures changes in the body of the landslide, as the material entering it has much lower effective confining stresses which results on much smaller apparent basal friction angles. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the Finite Differences depth integrated SPH model developed by the authors to cope with material which is flowing up the FD meshes. The model is set within an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian framework (ALE), and the resulting excess pore pressure evolution model will include now advective terms in addition to the diffusive and source terms. In order to assess the importance of the proposed modification, we introduce a basal Péclet number which relates two non dimensional reference times of consolidation and erosion.

Rapid flow-like landslides, particularly debris flows and debris avalanches, cause significant economic damage and many victims worldwide every year. They are usually extremely fast with the capability of travelling long distances in short times, sweeping away everything in their path. The principal objective of this paper is to test the ability of the ‘GeoFlow-SPH’ two-phase model developed by the authors, to reproduce the complex behaviour of natural debris avalanches where pore-water pressure evolution plays a key role. To reach this goal, the model is applied to reproduce the complex dynamic behaviour observed in Johnsons Landing debris avalanche including the observed bifurcation caused by the flowing out of part of the moving mass from the mid-channel. Initial thickness deposit trim-line, distribution of deposit volume, and the average velocities were provided for this real case, making it an appropriate case to validate the developed model. The paper also contributes to evaluate the SPH-FD model’s potentialities to simulate the structural countermeasure, like bottom drainage screens, used to reduce the impact of debris flows. The analysis of the results shows the adequacy of the proposed model to solve this complicated geophysical problem.

The material point method can be regarded as a meshfree extension of the finite element method. This fact has two interesting consequences. On the one hand, this puts a vast literature at our disposal. On the other hand, many of this inheritance has been adopted without questioning it. A clear example of it is the use of the Voigt algebra, which introduces an artificial break point between the formulation of the continuum problem and its discretized counterpart. In the authors' opinion, the use of the Voigt rules leads to a cumbersome formulation where the physical sense of the operations is obscured since the well‐known algebra rules are lost. And with them, the intuition about how stresses and strains are related. To illustrate it, we will describe gently and meticulously the whole process to solve the nonlinear governing equations for isothermal finite strain elastodynamics, concluding with a compact set of expressions ready to be implemented effortless. In addition, the classic Newmark‐ algorithm has been accommodated to the local maximum‐entropy material point method framework by means of an incremental formulation.