prEN 18162
(Main)Building Information Modelling (BIM) - Digital twins applied to the built environment - Concept and definitions
Building Information Modelling (BIM) - Digital twins applied to the built environment - Concept and definitions
This document defines the framework for the digital twins in the built environment. It includes the terms and definitions, the relation with building information modelling and addresses the lack of standards for the qualitative specification of a digital twin, which can include geometric, attributive, structural and infrastructural quality, as applicable.
It will be based on the experiences obtained in use cases [1] and other TCs, including ISO/IEC 30173:2023 Digital twin — Concepts and terminology.
This document can be used in the development of other standards and in support of communications among diverse, interested parties or stakeholders. This initiative aims to define an ecosystem of digital twins opening the opportunity to release even greater value, using data for the public good.
Building information modelling - Digitale Zwillinge in der bebauten Umwelt - Struktur und Definitionen
Dieses Dokument definiert das Rahmenwerk für digitale Zwillinge in der bebauten Umwelt. Es beinhaltet Begriffe, die Beziehung zu Building Information Modelling und befasst sich mit dem Fehlen von Standards für qualitative Spezifikationen eines digitalen Zwillings, die geometrische, attributive, strukturelle und infrastrukturelle Qualitäten, falls anwendbar, beinhalten können.
Es wird auf den Erfahrungen aus Anwendungsfällen [1] und anderen TCs basieren, einschließlich ISO/IEC 30173:2023, Digital twin — Concepts and terminology.
Dieses Dokument kann in der Entwicklung anderer Standards und als Unterstützung der Kommunikation unter diversen interessierten Parteien oder Interessengruppen verwendet werden. Diese Initiative zielt auf die Definierung eines Ökosystems für digitale Zwillinge ab und eröffnet die Möglichkeit, bessere Werte und Daten für gemeinnützige Zwecke zu veröffentlichen.
Modélisation des informations de la construction (BIM) - Jumeaux numériques en environnement bâti - Concept et définitions
Le présent document définit le cadre des jumeaux numériques dans l’environnement bâti. Il comprend les termes et définitions, la relation avec la modélisation des informations de la construction, et remédie au manque de normes portant sur la spécification qualitative d’un jumeau numérique, qui peut inclure la qualité géométrique, attributive, structurelle et infrastructurelle, selon le cas.
Il repose sur les expériences obtenues dans les cas d’utilisation [1] et d’autres comités techniques, notamment l’ISO/IEC 30173:2023 Digital twin — Concepts and terminology.
Le présent document peut être utilisé pour élaborer d’autres normes et pour soutenir la communication entre diverses parties intéressées ou parties prenantes. Cette initiative vise à définir un écosystème de jumeaux numériques permettant de générer encore plus de valeur en utilisant les données au service de l’intérêt public.
Informacijsko modeliranje gradenj - Digitalni dvojčki v grajenem okolju - Koncept in definicije
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-april-2025
Informacijsko modeliranje gradenj - Digitalni dvojčki v grajenem okolju - Koncept
in definicije
Building Information Modelling (BIM) - Digital twins applied to the built environment -
Concept and definitions
Building information modelling - Digitale Zwillinge in der bebauten Umwelt - Struktur und
Definitionen
Modélisation des informations de la construction (BIM) - Jumeaux numériques en
environnement bâti - Concept et définitions
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 18162
ICS:
35.240.67 Uporabniške rešitve IT v IT applications in building
gradbeništvu and construction industry
91.010.01 Gradbeništvo na splošno Construction industry in
general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
February 2025
ICS 35.240.67
English Version
Building Information Modelling (BIM) - Digital twins
applied to the built environment - Concept and definitions
Modélisation des informations de la construction (BIM) Building information modelling - Digitale Zwillinge in
- Jumeaux numériques en environnement bâti - der bebauten Umwelt - Struktur und Definitionen
Concept et définitions
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 442.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 18162:2025 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Acronyms . 8
5 Taxonomy . 9
5.1 Asset digital twin (ADTw) stages and types . 9
5.1.1 General. 9
5.1.2 ADTw Prototype (ADTwP) . 9
5.1.3 ADTw Instance or ADTw (ADTwI or ADTw) . 9
5.1.4 ADTw Aggregate (ADTwA) . 10
5.1.5 Additional aspects: existing assets in the built environment . 10
5.2 Process digital twin (PDTw) in the built environment . 11
6 DTw Stakeholders in the built environment . 12
Bibliography . 13
European foreword
This document (prEN 18162:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 442 “Building
Information Modelling (BIM)”, the secretariat of which is held by SN.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
Introduction
This document defines the terminology for describing the relation between objects in the built
environment sector, their digital twin counterparts, and associated information.
In addition, this document aims at facilitating data flow within this sector, promoting the availability,
sharing, and reuse of high-quality data to drive the creation of new business models and services, thus
contributing to the development of data spaces. This development strives for better adherence to the
FAIR principles, which means that information and services related to buildings and civil engineering
works and their digital twins should be easily findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
Moreover, the Web of Data initiative led by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed a set
of authoritative standards for semantic interoperability. These standards enable the representation,
exchange, querying, reasoning and validation of knowledge based on graph-oriented data models. RDF
(Resource Description Framework) vocabularies, SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System)
taxonomies and OWL (Web Ontology Language) ontologies help define and organize the important
concepts of a domain, as well as the relationships that may exist between objects in that domain.
The use of standard vocabularies for metadata are already ubiquitous on the web, and the use of
ontologies to structure data are becoming increasingly important, notably via the Linked Open Data
initiative. Semantic interoperability of data and services on data spaces is favoured by a widespread use
of ontologies.
However, as point of start, it is inherent to any digitalisation of a real asset in the built environment, that
two main types of information are faced: (1) contextual data sets, behaving as static data with minor
changes across the lifetime of the real asset and (2) dynamic data sets, behaving as fast-moving data
series in short intervals of time, approaching towards near-real-time rates. From the contextual data sets,
two main subtypes are considered: structured and unstructured data. From the dynamic data sets,
another two main subtypes are considered: real and synthetic data.
Figure 1 represents these relations between the types and subtypes of data.
Figure 1 — Representation of the main types and subtypes of data
Considering that a digital twin:
1) represents a virtual system that contains all relevant information about the target entity for the
DTw's specific uses; and
2) it is not a static representation due to its synchronization with its target entity over time;
it could thus include both types of data sets (contextual and dynamic), as well as a method to track the
evolution of the real asset over time.
In addition, to be able to connect stakeholders with all these datasets, an ICT digital twin system or
environment is needed as an integrated, multi-domain physics application space to operate them. As it
happens to be in any digital twin environment or system, these two basic drivers may include completely
different requests depending on which is the role of the stakeholder interacting and the typology of the
digital twin. However, two main overarching purposes can be described:
Interrogative: the data sets could be consulted for the current and past histories. Individual digital twin
could be interrogated for their current system state. Multiple aggregation of digital twin data sets would
provide data that would be correlated for predicting future states.
Predictive: the digital twin would be used for predicting future behaviour and performance of the target
entity. That also includes simulation of alternative configurations or hypothetical scenarios. Before
reaching a mature stage, the prediction would be of the behaviour of the designed asset with components
that vary between its high and low tolerances in order to ascertain that the as-designed product met the
proposed requirements. Once the asset is built, the predictive performance would be based on current
point in the product's lifecycle at its current state and move forward.
1 Scope
This document defines the framework for the digital twins in the built environment. It includes the terms
and definitions, the relation with building information modelling and addresses the lack of standards for
the qualitative specification of a digital twin, which can include geometric, attributive, structural and
infrastructural quality, as applicable.
It will be based on the experiences obtained in use cases [1] and other TCs, including ISO/IEC 30173:2023
Digital twin — Concepts and terminology.
This document can be used in the development of other standards and in support of communications
among diverse, interested parties or stakeholders. This initiative aims to define an ecosystem of digital
twins opening the opportunity to release even greater value, using data for the public good.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 19650-1:2018, Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering
works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building
information modelling — Part 1: Concepts and principles
ISO/IEC 30173, Digital twin — Concepts and terminology
ISO 6707-1, Buildings and civil engineering works — Vocabulary — Part 1: General terms
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document the terms and definitions within ISO/IEC 30173, ISO 6707-1 and the
following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
3.1
digital twin
DTw
digital representation of a target entity with data connections that enable convergence between the
physical and digital states at an appropriate rate of synchronization
Note 1 to entry: Digital twin has some or all of the capabilities of visualization, simulation, surveying, monitoring,
forecasting, control, etc.
3.2
asset
item, thing or entity that has potential or actual value to an organization
Note 1 to entry: It refers to independent units of the built environment (e.g. a building like a house or an hospital,
an infrastructure like a bridge or a road).
[SOURCE: ISO 55000:2014, 3.2.1, modified — The notes to entry have been removed and a new Note 1 to
entry has been added.]
3.3
asset digital twin
ADTw
digital twin (3.1) of an asset (3.2)
3.4
component digital twin
CDTw
digital twin (3.1) of a component
Note 1 to entry: The component digital twin is typically a major element of the ADTw (3.5) or the PDTw (3.6), that
has significant impact on the performance of the target entity to which it belongs.
EXAMPLE A component digital twin may refer to a Heat Pump within the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation,
and Air Conditioning) system of a building
3.5
process
set of interrelated or interacting activities that use inputs to deliver an intended result
[SOURCE: ISO 9000:2015, 3.4.1, modified — The notes to entry have been removed.]
3.6
process digital twin
PDTw
digital twin (3.1) of a process (3.5)
Note 1 to entry: Process refers to procedures taken along the lifecycle of the assets in the built environment (e.g.
construction processes, maintenance processes…).
Note 2 to entry: Digital twin has some or all of the capabilities of visualization, simulation, surveying, monitoring,
forecasting, control, etc.
3.7
system
interacting objects organized to achieve one or more stated purpose
3.8
system digital twin
SDTw
digital twin (3.1) of a system (3.7)
Note 1 to entry: A system digital twin provides visibility into a set of interconnected or interdependent target
entities.
EXAMPLE A system digital twin may refer to the whole HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning)
system of a building.
...
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