Digital Twins on Existing Bridges

Mission Statement/Objectives

Recent advances in sensing technologies, data analytics, and digital modeling have enabled the development of digital twins for existing bridges. These digital models allow continuous monitoring of structural performance, early detection of damage, and data-driven decisions to improve bridge maintenance and resilience. This Task Group (TG) aims to promote and organize the use of digital twin methodologies for existing bridges through three main tasks (T1 to T3):

T1. Review the state of the art of digital twin applications n existing bridges.

T2. Develop a conceptual and methodological framework for bridge digital twins, including multi-source data integration (inspection, monitoring, and BIM), AI-based methods for anomaly detection, model updating, predictive maintenance, and protocols for interoperability and big data management.

T3. Validate and demonstrate the proposed framework through case studies on roadway and railway bridges in different countries and environmental and operational contexts.

Scope and Limitations

TG 5.7 aims to define, develop, and validate conceptual and methodological frameworks for digital twins of existing bridges. The focus is on clarifying the digital twin concept, integrating multi-source data, applying AI for modeling, damage detection, and predictive maintenance, and supporting decision-making through visualization. The work also addresses interoperability, data management, and alignment with international standards, and validates the framework through selected bridge case studies.

TG 5.7 is limited to conceptual and pre-normative activities. It will not develop commercial applications, conduct large-scale monitoring, or define new regulations. The focus is exclusively on existing bridges, using existing datasets and pilot studies, with the role of providing a scientific and technical basis for future guidelines and standardization.

Expected Project Output

The expected outputs per task are the following:

T1. State-of-art (review) journal article in SEI journal (or another reference journal), eventually using a two Parts approach, 1 special session on IABSE Congress (between 2027 and 2029), 4 webinars with worldwide recognized invited speakers in the field of DT of bridges (approx. one webinar per semester).

T2. Structural Engineering Document (SED) for digital twins of existing bridges.

T3. Case Studies (CS) document based on the selected case studies from different countries. Promote a Special Issue on SEI journal (or another reference journal) focused on the outputs of this task.

Expected Date of Completion

The expected target dates of completion per task are the following:

T1. May 31, 2027

T2. February 28, 2029

T3. March 31, 2030

Start Date: 1 April 2026
Target Date of Completion: 31 March 2028

Chair

Diogo Ribeiro, Portugal

Vice Chair

Furkan Lüleci, USA

Members

Eva Lantsoght, Ecuador

Túlio Bittencourt, Brazil

Isabela Ames, Brazil

Rafael Cabral, Portugal

Yasutaka Narazaki, Japan

José Campos e Matos, Portugal

Anna Rakoczy, Poland

Rolando Chacón, Spain

Andreia Meixedo, Portugal

Vahid Mousavi, Australia

Estefania Cervantes, Ecuador

Steven Lorenzen, Germany

Vedhus Hoskere, USA

Doron Hekič, Slovenia

Basak Bektas, USA

Eline Vereecken, Belgium

Kamyab Zandi, Sweden/Canada

Dang Ngoc Son, Portugal

Idilson Nhamage, Mozambique

Grzegorz Poprawa, Poland

Diego Zamora‑Sánchez, Spain

Meisam Gordan, Ireland

Zhenkun Li, Italy

Liangfu Ge, China

Giulia Marasco, USA