Digital twins: Understanding the added value of integrated models for through-life engineering services

TLDR

Digital twins are multi‑domain, multi‑scale digital representations of physical products that evolve with their counterparts, and integrating their domain‑specific partial models—such as CAD or degradation models—enhances value by enabling analysis of complex behaviours that arise from component interactions. The study proposes that partial models of a digital twin share a common model space, integrating them via defined interrelations to serve as a bridge between the digital twin and the physical asset. The authors illustrate this approach with a differential‑drive mobile robot, using it as a testbed for digital twin research. The results show that integrated models add value across lifecycle stages, enabling performance evaluation during design and real‑time reflection with the physical asset during operation.

Abstract

Digital twins are digital representations of physical products or systems that consist of multiple models from various domains describing them on multiple scales. By means of communication, digital twins change and evolve together with their physical counterparts throughout their lifecycle. Domain-specific partial models that make up the digital twin, such as the CAD model or the degradation model, are usually well known and provide accurate descriptions of certain parts of the physical asset. However, in complex systems, the value of integrating the partial models increases because it facilitates the study of their complex behaviours which only emerge from the interactions between various parts of the system. The paper proposes that the partial models of the digital twin share a common model space that integrates them through a definition of their interrelations and acts as a bridge between the digital twin and the physical asset. The approach is illustrated in a case of a mechatronic product - a differential drive mobile robot developed as a testbed for digital twin research. It is demonstrated how the integrated models add value to different stages of the lifecycle, allowing for evaluation of performance in the design stage and real-time reflection with the physical asset during its operation.