2023. July 10.
DigiTwins Mini-Conference at the Faculty of Civil Engineering
Opportunities and Challenges in the field of Infrastructure Digitalisation
2023.07.05; 09:00 – 13:00
More than 70 participants attended the mini-conference organized by the Faculty of Civil Engineering on July 5th. The central theme of the conference was the digitalization of infrastructure construction and the related education programs. Starting in autumn 2023, the Faculty will participate in the joint master’s program offering a degree in Digital Twins for Infrastructures and Cities, in collaboration with Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Istanbul Technical University, and Universitatea du Bucuresti. The mini-conference started with the detailed introduction of the planned reforms in BME’s Civil Engineering education and the DigiTwin4CIUE international Master's programme. This was followed by thematic technical presentations.
The mini-conference was attended by experts from the road and railway engineering sector, and the presentations covered the topics of design, construction and maintenance, as well as transport management. Participants agreed that the digitalisation of infrastructure facilities should include solutions for construction and operation at the design stage. A coherent model is essential! The standardisation, automation and optimisation process is still ahead of the sector in this area.
Utiber’s presentation „Digitalization and BIM in road design” showed the benefits of InfraBIM (visualization already at the level of study design; virtual comparison of variants), but also highlighted the challenges and limitations that still exist.
Presentation of Utiber: „Digitalisation and BIM in road design.”
STRABAG’s presentation gave a detailed overview of the innovative survey technologies used in the construction works (static and mobile laser scanner for road condition surveys; UAV LIDAR technology for greenfield projects), highlighted their advantages compared to traditional geodetic surveys and pointed out some specific applications (bridge construction support)
Presentation of STRABAG: „Using innovative survey technologies in road construction.”
Duna Aszfalt presented the digital technologies and tools used in Highway construction projects. It was highlighted that BIM solutions for transport infrastructure facilities should be appropriately called „InfraBIM”.
Presentation of Duna Aszfalt Zrt.: „Digital technologies in road construction in the practice of Duna Aszfalt Zrt.”
In addition to road construction, digital technologies and tools are of course also becoming more and more dominant in railway construction. The presentation by V-Híd Zrt. showed Europe's most modern track-laying and track-renewal machinery and highlighted the future developments.
Presentation of V-Híd Zrt.: „Digital control of railway construction machines”
Once the transport facilities are completed, the working machines will be replaced by vehicles running on the track Transport management is of vital importance in our daily lives. BKK’s presentation gave us an insight into the traffic management company’s data analysis and data visualisation activities, as well as the state-of-the-art processes used in these activities, including artificial intelligence (e.g. automatic identification of traffic mode categories from camera data, traffic light programme optimisation).
Presentation of BKK Zrt.: „A data revolution in transport planning.”
In addition to transport management, it is essential to ensure that infrastructure is in good technical condition. One of the key elements of railway asset management is the track inspection. In the presentation of Vasútlabor Ltd., the state-of-the-art track condition assessment methods and their tools were introduced.
Presentation of Vasútlabor Kft: „The railway track diagnostics of the future.”
The closing presentation by the BME Department of Highway and Railway Engineering highlighted the role and opportunities of digitalisation in railway infrastructure management. Representatives of BKV Zrt. and MÁV KFV. Kft. added their own professional experiences in the discussion after the presentation.
Presentation of Dr. Ákos VINKÓ, BME Department of Highway and Railway Engineering: „The role and opportunities of digitalisation in rail asset management”
opportunities of digitalisation in rail asset management”
The conference ended with a workshop where industrial experts discussed with each other and with academics the need for Civil engineering education and the challenges of the near future.
We are grateful for everyone's attendance, and we will continue to organise similar events regularly and support the digitalisation of infrastructure engineering from the academic side.
The positive atmosphere and the professional success of the conference are illustrated by the pictures below!
