What Is a Digital Twin? – Definitions and Insights From an Industrial Case Study in Technical Product Development

Abstract

Over the last two decades, a concept called Digital Twin has evolved rapidly. Yet, there is no unified definition of the term. Based on a literature study and an industrial case study, an overarching definition of Digital twins is presented. Three characteristics were identified – representation of a physical system, bidirectional data exchange, and the connection along the entire lifecycle. Further, three sub-concepts are presented, namely: Engineering Twin, Production Twin, and Operation Twin. The presented paper thus formulates a consistent and detailed definition of Digital Twins.

Digital twin paradigm: A systematic literature review

“…The results provided by Formal concept analysis will be discussed in section 3 to explore the trends in the combination between the identified topics and their regularity of appearance in the literature. Industry and academia define a digital twin in several different ways (Trauer et al, 2020). For example, according to some, a digital twin is a virtual representation/model that interacts with the physical system throughout its life cycle (Grieves and Vickers, 2017), (Glaessgen and Stargel, 2012).…”

“…The virtual system defined also as virtual replica in (Asimov et al, 2018), virtual prototype in (Luo et al, 2018), and virtual counterpart in (Negri et al, 2017), provides different services such as the control of the current situation and the prediction of the near future and sends them back to the real space so the physical product or process adapt accordingly. The virtual system may enable companies and organisation to solve physical issues faster by detecting them sooner, predict outcomes, design, and build better products, and ultimately, better serve their customers (Trauer et al, 2020). The ability of simulation along product life cycle (C1), the synchronization of the cyber system with the physical assets (C2), the integration of real time data (C3), the behavioural modelling of the physical space (C4), the services provided by the virtual system (C5) are the main aspects that characterize the digital twin definition.…”

Conception of a Digital Twin in Mechanical Engineering – A Case Study in Technical Product Development

“…Such a coupling of simulation models and use phase data is often referred to as a Digital Twin. This contribution uses the definition of Trauer et al (2020), where a Digital Twin is defined as "a virtual dynamic representation of a physical system, which is connected to it over the entire life cycle for bidirectional data exchange." As many other companies these days, the industry partner of this case study from the heating and cooling systems industry is facing challenges in the transition from a "traditional" mechanical engineering company to a future-oriented enterprise that makes full use of the potentials of digitization.…”

Exploring the Potential of Digital Twin-Driven Design of Aero-Engine Structures

“…This extrapolation could then be queried by design engineers to assist in early decision making. The DT could thusly be thought of as an "Engineering Twin", or a "Production Twin" (Trauer, Schweigert-Recksiek, Engel, et al, 2020) due to its application in both product development and production. While such a DT might not have as strong predictive properties as a DT calibrated to mirror an existing physical counterpart, its predictions could still be useful.…”