A digital twin (DT) is an interactive, real-time digital representation of a system or a service utilizing onboard sensor data and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to gain a better insight into the physical world. With the increasing complexity of systems and products across many sectors, there is an increasing demand for complex systems optimization. Digital twins vary in complexity and are used for managing the performance, health, and status of a physical system by virtualizing it. The creation of digital twins enabled by Modelbased Systems Engineering (MBSE) has aided in increasing system interconnectivity and simplifying the system optimization process. More specifically, the combination of MBSE languages, tools, and methods has served as a starting point in developing digital twins. This article discusses how MBSE has previously facilitated the development of digital twins across various domains, emphasizing both the benefits and disadvantages of adopting an MBSE enabled digital twin creation. Further, the article expands on how various levels of digital twins were generated via the use of MBSE. An MBSE enabled conceptual framework for developing digital twins is identified that can be used as a research testbed for developing digital twins and optimizing systems and system of systems. Keywords—MBSE, Digital Twin, Digital Shadow, Digital Model, SysML
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Digital Twins for Materials
Digital twins are emerging as powerful tools for supporting innovation as well as optimizing the in-service performance of a broad range of complex physical machines, devices, and components. A digital twin is generally designed to provide accurate in-silico representation of the form (i.e., appearance) and the functional response of a specified (unique) physical twin. This paper offers a new perspective on how the emerging concept of digital twins could be applied to accelerate materials innovation efforts. Specifically, it is argued that the material itself can be considered as a highly complex multiscale physical system whose form (i.e., details of the material structure over a hierarchy of material length) and function (i.e., response to external stimuli typically characterized through suitably defined material properties) can be captured suitably in a digital twin. Accordingly, the digital twin can represent the evolution of structure, process, and performance of the material over time, with regard to both process history and in-service environment. This paper establishes the foundational concepts and frameworks needed to formulate and continuously update both the form and function of the digital twin of a selected material physical twin. The form of the proposed material digital twin can be captured effectively using the broadly applicable framework of n-point spatial correlations, while its function at the different length scales can be captured using homogenization and localization process-structure-property surrogate models calibrated to collections of available experimental and physics-based simulation data.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2119640
- PAR ID:
- 10381465
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Materials
- Volume:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2296-8016
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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