Mohamed Abdelfattah

There is currently great interest in applying the full digitisation of ‘Industry 4.0’to infrastructure systems. ‘Digital Twinning’,anapplication of ‘Industry 4.0’, involves digitally representinginfrastructure systems in order to support better decision-making processes for futuredevelopments as well as a better understanding of issues with current assets.However, there is a lack of research on applying the state-of-the-art of digital twiningto the resilience of water infrastructure systems. Thisstudy is based on a synthesis of the literature on digital twin applications ininfrastructure resilience generally and the water sector specifically.

Thus, this study firstly outlines the research that has been done on digitaltwins in infrastructure generally to reach concise definitions, purposes andaims. Then it discusses and critiques resilience and how theresilience level of any system can be assessed based on some of the latest resilience measurement strategies published in 2020.The study then focuses on the issues with currentwater systems and the practices that have been used to address these issues.Actual examples of flood events, hurricanes and earthquakes in a combinationof developed countries (United States, Portugal) and developing countries(Sudan and Nepal) are discussed with a critical review of the damageto water systems after these disruptions. The capabilities ofdigital twins to enhance water system resilience are discussed, as well as theprecautions that should be considered when deciding on their use. Based onthis synthesis, conclusions and recommendations for future research areprovided.