Development of Digital Twin for Utilities and Built Environment

Summary

This PhD project aims to develop a Digital Twin for utilities and built environment applications. Digital Twin Technology which involves creating a virtual representation of physical assets and systems, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis, and optimisation are increasingly used in various industry sectors, such as energy, transportation, civil/infrastructure/construction/built environment, aviation, agriculture, retail, government, medical devices, etc. This PhD project will be conducted within active groups within the School of Civil Engineering, collaborating with the Doctoral College interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary researchers within other groups and institutes (Energy Leeds, Cities, Infrastructure and Energy, Centre for Integrated Energy Research, Computational Science and Engineering, Materials and Structures, Water, Public Health and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Transport Studies, Centre for Global Development, Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, Centre for Computational Engineering, etc) and schools at the University of Leeds.

Digital Twin (DT) is changing how engineering design, planning, manufacturing, operation, simulation, forecasting and traditional functioning are done. Digital twin technology is a digital replica or representation of a physical object/product or process as an intangible system that can be examined, altered and tested without interacting with it in the real world and avoiding negative consequences. This technology is vital to sustainable engineering and used by engineers to design, create, test, operate and alter objects that are based in reality, without engaging with them in the real world. Digital Twin is a bridge between the digital world and the physical world. This concept has robust applications in engineering and industry as it has much more potential, power, and scalability that are currently used to replicate, monitor and test virtually anything one can think of.

The PhD project presents the opportunity for the successful candidate to conduct research in specialist subject areas (Digital Twin Technology, Systems Engineering, Digital Modelling, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence) and their application to Engineering to deliver solutions to utilities and built environment challenges. Creating a digital representation of the University structures and utilities can significantly achieve energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, operational optimisation, etc while saving cost. Therefore, this PhD project aims to create an accurate and efficient digital twin that can be used for operating and predicting utilities (e.g., electricity, water, gas, HVAC, waste management, etc) energy consumption patterns, utilities performance and optimisation with the use of the data analytics and artificial intelligence.

This research project focuses on core Digital Twin Technology development at the component and system level, demonstrating system-level technology, developing and exploiting systems and collaborating with industry partners to design, integrate and industrialise Digital Twin technology and systems. The developed Digital Twin will be used to optimise performance, through the analysis of data and the monitoring of systems to prevent issues before they occur and prevent downtime.

We also welcome applicants to submit their own research proposal.

Applicants to research degree programmes should normally have at least a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. The criteria for entry for some research degrees may be higher, for example, several faculties, also require a Masters degree. Applicants are advised to check with the relevant School prior to making an application. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the School or Graduate School prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.