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Frontiers of Engineering Management

ISSN 2095-7513

ISSN 2096-0255(Online)

CN 10-1205/N

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Front. Eng    2022, Vol. 9 Issue (4) : 668-676    https://doi.org/10.1007/s42524-022-0216-2
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Revisiting digital twins: Origins, fundamentals, and practices
Jiehan ZHOU1(), Shouhua ZHANG2, Mu GU3
1. University of Oulu, Oulu 90570, Finland
2. University of Oulu, Oulu 90570, Finland; Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
3. Beijing Aerospace Smart Manufacturing Technology Development Co., Ltd., Beijing 100043, China
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Abstract

The digital twins (DT) has quickly become a hot topic since it was proposed. It appears in all kinds of commercial propaganda and is widely quoted by academic circles. However, the term DT has misstatements and is misused in business and academics. This study revisits DT and defines it to be a more advanced system/product/service modeling and simulation environment that combines most modern information communication technologies (ICTs) and engineering mechanism digitization and characterized by system/product/service life cycle management, physically geometric visualization, real-time sensing and measurement of system operating conditions, predictability of system performance/safety/lifespan, and complete engineering mechanisms-based simulations. The idea of DT originates from modeling and simulation practices of engineering informatization, including virtual manufacturing (VM), model predictive control, and building information modeling (BIM). On the basis of the two-element VM model, we propose a three-element model to represent DT. DT does not have its unique technical characteristics. The existing practices of DT are extensions of the engineering informatization embracing modern ICTs. These insights clarify the origin of DT and its technical essentials.
Keywords virtual manufacturing      digital twins      modeling and simulation      digitization      computational engineering     
Corresponding Author(s): Jiehan ZHOU   
Just Accepted Date: 16 September 2022   Online First Date: 26 October 2022    Issue Date: 08 December 2022
 Cite this article:   
Jiehan ZHOU,Shouhua ZHANG,Mu GU. Revisiting digital twins: Origins, fundamentals, and practices[J]. Front. Eng, 2022, 9(4): 668-676.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fem/EN/10.1007/s42524-022-0216-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fem/EN/Y2022/V9/I4/668
Earliest publication
Source of DTVM, 1993MPC, 1970sBIM, 2000sOnosato and Iwata (1993)Richalet et al. (1978)Laiserin (2002)
Earliest reported DTHernández and Hernández (1997)
Tab.1  Timeline of DT ideas and terminology
Fig.1  The schematic diagram for the digitization of a gearbox life cycle supported by DT modeling and simulation environment.
Fig.2  Key enabling technologies for DT.
Fig.3  The two-element model of VM.
Fig.4  Three-element model of DT (Notes: RMS stands for real mechanism system, and VMS stands for virtual mechanism system).
Fig.5  Marking robot DT prototype exhibited in Hannover Messe 2018.
ApplicationRPSRISRMSVPSVISVMS
Smart manufacturing√√√√√√
Smart building√√√√
Smart energy√√√√√
Smart agriculture√√√
The marking robot DT√√√√√√
Tab.2  DT practices
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