Digital twin enabled real-time advanced control of TBM operation using deep learning methods.

This paper establishes a digital twin (DT) enabled model that aims to achieve real-time monitoring and control to enhance the overall performance of tunnel boring machines (TBM) during excavation. Through the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors that are installed on TBM, the actual operating status is transferred from the physical object to the digital model. Deep learning models that integrated graph convolutional network (GCN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) networks are employed for reliable TBM performance estimation. An online multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach is then proposed to determine the optimal operating parameters for advanced control. Real data from Singapore's Circle Line 6 C885 project is utilized as a case study to examine the applicability of the developed digital twin model. TBM's penetration rate, over-excavation ratio, energy consumption, and tool wear are selected as the objectives (O 1 to O 4) for optimization. The results indicate that (1) The digital twin model can provide a reliable estimation of TBM's performance indicators with a high coefficient of determination (R 2) values. (2) TBM's overall performance can be effectively improved through the proposed online optimization method, with an overall improvement of 21.12%. (3) The proposed online optimization method is more practical and creates better improvement than the conventional MOO approach. This study addresses the existing research gaps of lacking a reliable method to guide TBM operation with enhanced performances for the major objectives. It also contributes to proposing a novel intelligent approach that integrates DT, deep learning, and an online-NSGA-II method for TBM operation optimization during tunnel excavation. • A digital twin enabled approach is proposed for real-time intelligent control for TBM operation. • An MOO approach that integrates deep-learning and online optimization is established. • Data from a realistic tunnel project in Singapore is used to demonstrate as a case study. • TBM's efficiency, safety, energy consumption and tool wear are considered as objectives. • An overall improvement of 21.12% is achieved by implementing the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]