Bentley’s Illuminate symposium is a highlight of the Australian infrastructure calendar – an event where leaders from across the sector gather to debate the critical themes reshaping the landscape of infrastructure engineering.
This year, those leaders included Colin Ellam, Chief Executive of Cohesive, Bentley’s digital integrator business. Cohesive provides value-led digital solutions, such as digital twins, as well as advisory support, to owners and operators of complex infrastructure assets in sectors including transport.
With its deep rail expertise Cohesive is currently supporting programmes including HS2, Europe’s largest rail project. In partnership with HS2 Ltd, Cohesive’s team has established what is known as HS2’s ‘visualisation hub’ – a secure platform which connects up the vast volume of complex and disparate data sets (GIS, BIM, CAD models, asset, safety, and project controls data) being created and procured on the programme and making it readily accessible to HS2’s teams.
The hub will ultimately become a digital twin of the railway – a virtual replica of the physical railway and how it functions as a system of interconnected systems.
The benefits of structuring and ordering data in this way and using it to unlock insights, inform decision making and drive operational efficiencies are becoming ever clearer to transport owner operators today. And this so-called “infrastructure intelligence” was one of the core topics at Illuminate.
But when we talk about ‘infrastructure intelligence’ what precisely do we mean? “Infrastructure intelligence means different things to different people,” explained Ellam. “An owner-operator’s view will be quite different from a contractor’s view.”
The challenges of leveraging infrastructure intelligence vary too, he said, depending on the stakeholder and its unique needs. “From owner-operators, to tier-one contractors and supply chain companies, the need for insights differs at each level.”
Kaushik Chakraborty, senior vice president, regional executive, Asia Pacific at Bentley Systems, was also steering the debate at the event. He explained the value that a digital approach and the utilisation of data brings to today’s major programmes.
“Digital delivery provides the ability to build intelligence into reviews. We can now track decisions made during the design phase, understand why they were made, and see their impacts.”
Today’s construction professionals, he said, have opportunities to review decisions made and the impact they have in a way that was not historically possible.
“To use an analogy, in the old days of film-based cameras, you had one chance to capture a shot and had to develop the film to see the results,” he said.
“Today, we take multiple shots and choose the best one. In the design, build and operate phases of an infrastructure lifecycle, especially in complex, high-cost, high-CapEx projects like rail, getting it right is crucial.”
Digital: Driving forward rail projects
Chakraborty provided a thought-provoking statistic – that 20 to 30 per cent of the costs on rail projects result from the design and construction phases, while 70 per cent are generated in the maintenance and operation phases.
“More and more owners understand that rail assets will be in operation for at least 50 plus years,” he said.
“They are focused on ensuring that the information they have when they start running their railway is so up to date that they don’t need to rely on outdated paper maps, which lack intelligence. Traditionally, our industry has created 3D models, made 2D plans, printed them out, and marked them up in red, blue and green pens onsite.
“We started with intelligent data but made it less intelligent by converting it to 2D. Today, we are changing that. Technology now allows us to have a digital twin of the asset from design all the way through construction. At handover, the owner has a comprehensive understanding of why and how it was designed, by whom, and what decisions were made during the design cycle.”
Ellam agreed, adding that traditionally, everyone has concentrated on the capital expenditure – the cost of that project in isolation.
“But – to Kaushik’s point – looking at the total expenditure and the full lifecycle costs of the asset might dictate that you spend more during the construction phase to capture more data, gain more insights, and have a true ‘as-built’ representation of the asset that will last for the next 60 to100 years,” he said.
Chakraborty said that, in the past, engineering projects were constrained by two factors, cost and time. Today, the list of considerations includes climate change, resiliency, accessibility for local residents, and the user experience of the infrastructure.
“It’s not just about building a train; it’s about the entire experience. For example, the London Tube traditionally had signs advising passengers to mind the gap. Today, a safety ramp automatically extends when the door opens. That’s the level of experience we expect now,” he said.
“As our expectations increase, owners need to up their game. When you start designing a rail project today, by the time it’s constructed and operational, it’s seven years later. What will the future of that rail line be in seven years? How can we ensure a brilliant experience?”
Chakraborty touched on two projects in which Bentley and Cohesive are collaborating – the Crossrail Elizabeth Line in the UK, one of the first true digital projects for rail in the world, and High Speed 2 (HS2), a more than 120-kilometre line from London to Birmingham.
For both projects, the United Kingdom (UK) government realises the value of a digital handover. So, when they are built, there will be a physical rail and a digital twin, a true digital representation.
“Once you have the digital representation, and you’re running and operating that asset, the digital interpretation keeps gaining more insights and intelligence,” Chakraborty said.
“You can model and simulate training, plan for egress in the station, and do much more with that digital twin in terms of maintaining and operating the asset effectively. In Australia, projects are moving towards this approach, especially in Victoria and New South Wales.
“It’s an evolution of how fast the industry can get there. The UK had the advantage of a government mandate driving digital delivery and innovation. While the rest of the world may not have such mandates, they are seeing the value demonstrated by the UK.”
Ellam explained the value that technologies such as digital twins bring to major programmes – value that extends far beyond the construction itself.
“Today, we don’t just consider the construction of the railway; we also consider how it will interact with the community it’s serving. When you look at the new stations on the Elizabeth line, for instance, as well as those that will be on HS2, they’re virtually like communities in themselves.
“The designs include shops, retail, easy in and out, a simplified ticketing regime – all of which is simulated and modelled in a digital twin. The project team must make sure it all works before they build it, so they don’t get these natural bottlenecks of humans trying to get through turnstiles, for instance.
“The impact is amazing, but you can also layer on an ‘economic twin,’ if you like. So, if you build that station, that way, in that area, what’s the immediate impact? It allows us to consider the impact on things like local schools and housing estates. It’s all represented in the digital twin of the asset.”
The future
Cohesive is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bentley. It was developed to have a closer relationship with owner-operators of large, complex assets as part of Bentley’s strategy to get closer to the operating end of the asset life cycle.
Ellam explained: “We work alongside our Bentley colleagues in the wider business, but we provide the advisory and consulting layer on top.
“We discuss with the owner-operators where they want to go with their digital strategies, the outcomes they’re seeking, and why they want to pursue a digital path.
“We then work with our Bentley colleagues to devise solutions and identify the tools that we can bring into play to enable that strategy and realise it for the owner-operators.”
Chakraborty elaborated further, stating the aim was for owner-operators to gain a true integration of engineering, IT, and operations technology.
“Bentley, with our user base, provides a lot of information on the engineering side, but all of that has to sit within IT systems because these systems run the assets in this day and age,” he said.
“We want to ensure that we are relevant to IT departments and that they can easily use the digital information created during the engineering and construction phases to operate more effectively.
“That’s where Cohesive comes in with its information and knowledge. They work to understand the organisation’s goals, the change management processes that need to be put in place to achieve them, and then collaborate with Bentley to identify the technology that will enable these outcomes.”
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