Innovation Fall 2025

ANNUAL CONFERENCE - CE OFFERINGS

Learn to plan in the ‘sandbox’ with digital twins

Engineers and decision-makers can discover how to integrate Digital Twin technology into infrastructure planning and management processes, in a Continuing Education course at the Annual Conference. The course, “Digital Twin Applications for Critical Infrastructure Resilience,” demonstrates how digital twins can simulate real-time operations, predict failures, and optimize maintenance strategies. The course explores “the fundamentals and applications of digital twins in critical infrastructure, covering their role in real-time monitoring, simulation, and resilience planning,” said Dr. Moein Manbachi, P.Eng., one of the presenters. “It will offer a mix of technical insights and selected practical examples relevant to engineering professionals in the power, building, transportation, utilities, and industrial sectors,” Manbachi said.

Manbachi, who is with the Smart Microgrid Applied Research Team (SMART) at the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation at BCIT, joins fellow presenters Dr. Vidya Vankayala, who is experienced with grid modernization and microgrid development in the utilities sector, and Minoo Shariat-Zadeh, P.Eng., Project Lead with SMART. An interactive virtual replica Digital twins are dynamic, real-time digital replicas of a physical asset, system, or process. They integrate data from sensors, IoT devices, historical records, and simulations to mirror the current state, behavior, and performance of the real-world counterpart. Digital twins can ingest live data from sensors embedded in infrastructure, such as temperature, vibration, load, and energy usage, and simulate how systems respond to various conditions, like traffic congestion, power surges, and structural stress. This allows operators to test “what if” scenarios such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, and equipment failures without risking real-world assets. “Digital twins act like a sandbox for infrastructure – an interactive virtual replica where engineers can safely test new solutions, changes, run scenarios, and observe outcomes without affecting the real system,” Manbachi explained. “Data can flow continuously from the physical asset to the digital model, enabling dynamic analysis and predictive decision-making.” Indeed, digital twins can help engineers analyze patterns in historical and real-time data to detect anomalies and predict failures before they occur, allowing them to identify weak points in infrastructure, in situations such as with aging transformers or bridge fatigue, and prioritize interventions. Alerts can be automatically triggered to reroute resources or shut down faulty equipment. Applications for digital twins Digital twins are used in building infrastructure, power systems, transportation networks, and industrial facilities. In buildings, engineers can leverage digital twins to model and optimize HVAC, lighting systems, and occupancy patterns. This data also can be integrated with building management systems to enable adaptive control. Additionally, specialized sensors can identify cracks or water ingresses in real-time, or detect seismic events before projecting their impact on the structure. Digital twins can help engineers stabilize loads in energy systems by simulating load balancing, renewable energy

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Fall 2025

Innovation