The SUBLIME consortium is pleased to announce the successful defence of the Engineering Doctorate (EngD) project by Ali Sabzi Khoshraftar, who presented his work on the development and evaluation of predictive digital twins for steel bridge assessment and maintenance. Ali carried out his EngD research within the Pervasive Systems (PS) Research Group at the University of Twente, chaired by Dr. Özlem Durmaz-Incel, under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. Maarten van Steen, Dr.ir. Berend Jan van der Zwaag, and Dr. Le Viet Duc.
Ali’s EngD project contributes to the SUBLIME ambition of improving the sustainability, reliability, and lifespan of steel infrastructures. His work focused on designing a predictive digital twin architecture that integrates structural health monitoring, artificial intelligence, and extended reality technologies to support more efficient bridge assessment and maintenance processes.
Traditional bridge inspections are often time-consuming, subjective, and difficult to perform, especially for large infrastructures that must remain operational for decades. To address these challenges, Ali proposed a digital twin framework capable of combining data from multiple sources — including sensors, drone imagery, and structural monitoring systems — to generate predictive insights about bridge condition. These insights can then be visualized through interactive dashboards, 3D models, and extended reality environments to support decision-making by asset managers and inspectors.
A key part of the project involved evaluating essential components of the proposed architecture, including AI-based anomaly detection, predictive analytics, and extended reality visualization tools. The system was prototyped using real bridge data, including sensor measurements and drone imagery, allowing the creation of an interactive digital representation of the structure.
Through simulation studies and experimental evaluation, the project demonstrated the potential benefits of integrating these technologies into bridge inspection workflows. In particular, the results showed improvements in inspection speed, accuracy, and objectivity, as well as potential reductions in the number of major maintenance interventions required to keep bridges operational.
Ali also explored the role of virtual and augmented reality in infrastructure inspection. Experiments with a virtual inspection environment showed that extended reality tools can significantly support inspectors by helping them identify and monitor structural anomalies more efficiently while enabling remote inspection capabilities.
The project highlights the potential of digital twins to transform infrastructure management by enabling data-driven, predictive maintenance strategies. Such approaches can help extend the service life of existing structures while reducing costs and environmental impact — key objectives of the SUBLIME project.
The SUBLIME team congratulates Ali Sabzi Khoshraftar on this achievement and thanks him for his valuable contribution to advancing digital twin technologies for sustainable steel infrastructure.