Digital twins can help improve safety and efficiency in dam and tunnel construction. Sensors can monitor conditions and assets in real-time, while virtual reality allows remote inspection of construction sites from anywhere. This addresses current challenges of underground monitoring and reduces risks. A digital twin platform would give managers insights into construction progress and asset status without physical site visits. Multiple stakeholders could virtually attend meetings at construction sites to collaborate more effectively. Overall, digital twins offer significant benefits like cost savings, improved safety, and reduced downtime for dam and tunnel projects.

1. QuantumTunnelling andDam
Safety with Digital Twin
25th June 2019

2. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 2
1 Context Setting
Sharing some photographs and my experience ofvisiting a dam and tunnel construction site back
in 2011 which was one ofthe many experience ofvisiting any dam & tunnel site, my lastofficial visit
to a dam site was to the mighty Tehri Dam (already constructed back in 2006) in 2016 which is the
highest in India & one of the highest in the world situated at Uttarakhand and much lately which
was a leisure visit to the Peechi dam situated 22km outside Thrissur city in Kerala, India.
The thoughts that were running through my mind during the visitwhich have beenmentioned below
in next paragraph is when I visited the Sawra Kuddu dam and tunnel construction site; a
hydroelectric power(HEP)generationprojectof111MW located inKudduvillage,Rohru sub-district
of Shimla district at the border of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India.
Fig 1: Access to the main tunnel of the Sawra Kuddu HEP constructed by HPPCL
During my visits to any tunnel & dam construction site or in particular this one was the concerns
was safety of the workers, nearby area (due to presence ofgelignite based dynamite), structural,
hydraulic &mechanical failures and how the monitoring ofthe conditionofmany complex machines
is done at the site. And now eightyears down the line I am wondering how Digital twin which is an
amalgamation of Internet of Things (sensors/actuators), AI/ML and Augmented & Virtual Reality
can be applied to extend the cost-effective construction, maintenance of dam & tunnel and safety
programs implemented by various stakeholders to combat the above-mentioned risks.

3. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 3
Fig 2: Entrance to Tunnel No - 4 of the Sawra Kuddu HEP
2 Why – The Opportunity
Dams & Tunnels mostly in the mountain regions are constructed by building tunnels and operated
to serve multiple purpose – including environmental friendly power generation, water supply, water
storage & flood suppression and not to forget recreational activities as well.
Today in dam tunnel construction industry the major problems faced by the tunnel designers and
engineers is; to getdata visualization, the construction process analytics, condition of some high
value assets like Tunnel Boring Machines, Boomer (a face drilling rig machine), Crawler Excavator
and Wheel Loader, security of the area perimeter due to presence ofdynamites used to blastthe
rocks by drilling the underground with Boomer.

4. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 4
Fig 3: A high value asset costing INR 3.00 crores - Boomer which is a face drilling rig machine majorly used in
underground mining and tunnelling operations
This is hard to do; the reason is, underground it’s hard to predictand visualize over what is the
process going on there and monitor the status ofthese assets on real-time. Currently its done in a
very old-school fashion way either on 2-D platform or on the excel sheets. In today’s world we must
go one step ahead and I think one way of doing that is by putting the dam and tunnel construction
industry one level up with IoT and VR & AR.
3 How – The Solution
In my opinion Digital Twin can be a productwhich is Virtual-Augmented-Reality-as-a-service
(VArAAS) that could be offered to tunnelling/power & utilities industry and to the construction
industry as a whole. This can be a software solution based on unity game engine, which can be
used with the virtual reality glasses and also on desktop/tablet.

5. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 5
Fig 4: Physically present at the core of tunnel for the site visit - Hazy picture due to the chillness inside the tunnel
With this Digital Twin solution, one doesn’thave to go physically there; the user can just wear the
virtual/augmented reality glasses or visualize this on desktop or the tablets that; what is the real
condition ofthe tunnel & machines and inspectprecisely with the sensors data.
By visualizing the full construction process and step by step allowing the user to control it while
being inside ofthe process. This will notonly decrease the time ofthe construction process but
also increase efficiency ofdoing the things in a much faster way and monitor the conditions ofthe
various high value assets in real-time with a two-way communication made possible.
4 What – The Benefits
The people in the industry will benefit is they can visualize the data by going virtually inside the
tunnel construction, selectthe area where they want the data to monitor which is emitted from the
various sensor and visualize the data on real time basis along with insightful visualizations can be
given to them to give them an idea what is going on in addition to the historical data they can
produce there. It can also help in generating reports such as shift reports, personal management
reports, complex machinery status and condition reports – all these can be done by the digital twin
platform.

6. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 6
Fig 5: With the DT platform users can virtually be inside the tunnel construction site rather than to be physically be
inside the tunnel
It can also help in generating reports such as shiftreports, personal managementreports, complex
machinery status and condition reports – all these can be done by the digital twin platform.
Let us consider there is a war room – where the ProjectManager is responsible for 13 different
tunnel and dam construction sites globally. The war room has a huge screen surrounded by him
and he can selectlocation ofthe site or inspectthe tunnel boring machines or any other assetby
just a touch on the screen. The user can get inside the machine to visualize what is the health &
status of the machine, predict when it requires maintenance thus reducing the downtime for
construction.
This also means many people from all over the world can virtually meetatthe construction site like:
 Client is sitting in Pasedena, California or Huston, Texas
 Contractor is in Sydney, New South Wales or Berlin, Germany
 And the consultant is probably sitting in some other place ofthe world may be at Golden
bay of Tasman region in New Zealand
These three people can be together be virtually present at the construction site and at the same
time talking aboutwhat is the current process is going on,problemsthe team atsite area are facing
and how to solve it. Digital twin platform can enable a full virtual meeting on-site from any pointof
the world.

7. Quantum Tunnelling and Dam Safety with Digital Twin 7
5 Ending Note
To sum up, digital twins are fast becoming an intriguing proposition for businesses thatare looking
to exert a finer control over their products, infrastructure and operations and derive significant
benefits in cost savings and downtime reduction.
Ernst& Young LLP
EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions| Advisory
About EY
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax,transaction and advisory services.
The insights and quality serviceswe deliver help build trustand confidence
in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop
outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promisesto all ofour
stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working
world for our people, for our clients and for
our communities.
EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, ofthe
member firms ofErnst& Young Global Limited, each ofwhich is a separate
legal entity. Ernst& Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by
guarantee, does notprovide services to clients.Formore information about
our organization, please visit ey.com.
Ernst & Young LLP is one of the Indian client serving member firms of EYGM Limited. For more