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The 10 strategic technologies of 2017 selected by Gartner contain a word that is still unfamiliar to the public.

That is ‘Digital Twin’.

 

 TopTenStrTechTrends2017_Infographic_Final[1]

 

However, if you search the internet with this keyword, you will notice that it has been used quite widely.

What is 'Digital Twin' then?

The term 'Digital Twin' was first used by Michael Grieves. It began to be used only a few years ago.

 

Thus, there are more conceptual definitions rather than clear definitions regarding the term 'Digital Twin'.

If you look at various materials, you can see that the viewpoint on digital twin is slightly different according to each field since there are a variety of related fields.

So now, let’s define the digital twin in the CAE perspective.

A digital twin is a virtual product that can simulate a physical product.

You do not need to test using the real products and can get the same results as the ones from the digitized virtual models, so that it is called 'digital twin' meaning that it is similar to 'Twins'.

What a perfect name!

 

In this article, digital twin is intentionally distinguished by using the bold type, digital twin and the standard type, digital twin.

In case of bold type, it is broad in its meaning. In case of standard type, it is narrow in its meaning.

 

In this way, digital twin is a familiar concept to engineers in CAE field.

CAE engineers have already created virtual models that can reproduce actual phenomena and used the simulation results using these models.

It has been called ‘Virtual mock-up’ in the CAD field and ‘Virtual prototype’ in the CAE field.

 

However, simply because of the fact that the names have been changed to digital twin that was a different term for the same thing, Gartner might have not considered it as one of ten strategic technologies.

'Digital twin' in a narrow sense means the virtual model of CAE which was mentioned above, but it has much greater significance in a broader sense.

 

In the 21st century, the most important concept of 'Connection' is also very important in 'digital twin'.

Most CAE is not directly connected to the actual industry environments.

Based on the actual product, the measured data is received offline. On the basis of these data, model is created or modified, and the simulation is performed.

The results are organized into document types or other types of forms and are used for the development or maintenance of real products.

 

In the concept of 'digital twin', these processes are ‘Connected’.

Data measured through various sensors attached to the actual product are transmitted to the digital twin.

The status of unmeasured parts can be checked as well using the digital twin-based simulation.

These simulations allow you to determine the expected lifetime of a product based on the current state, or to determine which parts need to be immediately replaced.

The updated data using the digital twin is again applied to the actual product or the simulation result is reproduced in the right form and sent to help the decision maker's judgment.

 

Digital-Twin-RecurDyn-examples

 

In some cases, digital twin models are not only one, but dozens, hundreds, thousands or the number of simulations exceeds tens of millions of times, and the sum of them becomes a sort of big data.

That is why it is essential to analyze and visualize these big data.

When analyzing big data, various data can be used including repair history and operation history of past products as well as simulation results.

This series of processes is also called ‘digital twin’.

 

So far, we've looked at both the digital twin in its narrow meaning and in its broad meaning.

How can you look at the future of CAE from the viewpoint of 'digital twin'?

In the ‘digital twin’, the actual product and the virtual model are no longer separate, but twin-like.

It should be possible to be able to detect the changes of actual product, analyze the actual product situation, or provide immediate results that can improve the state of the actual product.

In most cases, the actual product is not composed of a couple of components but rather a whole integrated system that should be presented as well.

Simulations may be needed that integrate diverse disciplines such as dynamics and solid mechanics as well as fluid dynamics and control engineering as the case may be.

To sum up, the CAE for the 'digital twin' must contain system-level analysis, fast speed for analysis and multi-disciplinary analysis.

Since RecurDyn is based on MBD (Multi-Body Dynamics), it is suitable for system level analysis compared to other CAE softwares.

 

In addition, the ability to simplify the digital twin model is required to realize real-time analysis speed.

In RecurDyn, it is possible to create a model with only the rigid bodies, and a variety of speed-conscious joints and contact elements are available.

Therefore it is ideal to use RecurDyn for creating digital twin models for your own purpose.

In some cases, the digital twin that considers the flexible body, not just MBD, or even fluid or control element is required.

With RecurDyn, it is also possible to create digital twin that takes into account various fields simultaneously, with MFBD technology integrated with FEM, co-simulation with fluid analysis (CFD), and connecting function with various optimizations and control solutions.

 

But CAE is not all about digital twin.

IOT technology for connection, collection of various data and big data technology for collecting, analyzing and processing are also required.

However, CAE plays a very important role when simulation using digital twin is necessary.

In fact, some companies already take advantage of the strengths of RecurDyn and are utilizing it to build its 'digital twin' environment.

The 'digital Twin' era has already come near us.

Let’s see how CAE will grow and advance, and how RecurDyn will keep pace with it in the changing environment.



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References)
2)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgR9M4kcx_8 : During the demonstration, it is mentioned that AI used the 58 million results of simulation.