A Review of Digital Twin Applications in Civil and Infrastructure Emergency Management

Natural disasters can cause severe damages to civil infrastructure and lead to extensive economic losses and casualties. To improve the emergency response capability of civil infrastructure under extreme circumstances such as natural disasters and human-caused hazards, intelligent technology for infrastructure emergency management has been extensively studied. As an emerging paradigm of interdisciplinary convergence, digital twins (DTs) can integrate intelligent technology into different stages of emergency management and provide a new solution for the emergency management of civil infrastructure (EMCI). However, applications of DT in EMCI have several limitations and are mostly case by case. However, the sector needs more generalisable lessons to address the greater value of DT in the context of EMCI. To address this gap, we first carry out a systematic literature review and analyse the latest progress and previous research deficiencies of DT by taking the scientometrical approach. Next, a framework is proposed to explain how DT can be applied to the mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery stages of EMCI. Lastly, the trends and prospects of DT applications in EMCI are discussed. Overall, the knowledge gained from this study will promote the research and development of more-viable DTs to address the sector’s demand for emergency management.