A Modular, Logistics-Centric Digital Twin Framework for Construction: From Concept to Prototype

Traditional construction logistics rely on manual processes and fragmented tools, leading to inefficient planning, poor communication, and disorganized supply chains. Despite advances in digitalization, there is a lack of integrated, data-driven approaches tailored to construction logistics. To address this gap, this paper adopts a design-science approach to develop and evaluate a modular Digital Twin (DT) framework, the ConLogTwin. The framework integrates planning data with real-time site data through a robust data storage layer and digital services for automated planning and analytics. A prototype demonstrates the technical feasibility of mirroring both physical and organizational setups of projects, enabling more efficient and adaptive logistics management. The work contributes a modular reference architecture that integrates established open-source tools into a coherent, adaptable framework for construction logistics, enhancing practical applicability and lowering implementation barriers. A limitation is that the framework has not yet been validated in a full-scale field study, leaving its effectiveness in practice to be tested in a future study.