TwinSSI: Digital Twin Modelling for Soil-Structure-Interaction based on CutFEM and BIM technologies

Engineers will build a digital twin of underground construction—a virtual replica that mirrors a real tunnel or foundation in real time, using a new hybrid of cutting-edge simulation and building information modelling. Current design and monitoring of tunnels, foundations, and other buried structures relies on simplified models that cannot capture the complex interactions between soil, water, and structural loads. This forces engineers to over-design for safety, driving up costs and limiting what can be built in challenging ground conditions. The TwinSSI project addresses this gap by combining CutFEM—a computational method that handles complex geometries without simplifying the soil—with BIM platforms that incorporate CAD data. The team will validate the framework using full-scale tunnel-soil experiments at the National Buried Infrastructure Facility, then apply it to real projects with Network Rail and Maidl Tunnel consultants. If successful, the project will give geotechnical engineers a practical tool to predict how underground structures behave over their entire life cycle, from construction through decades of operation. This could reduce over-engineering, lower costs, and improve safety for tunnels, foundations, and buried pipelines—infrastructure that quietly underpins transport, water, and energy networks. The work is applied, not fundamental: it aims to deliver a validated digital twin ready for industry use.