digital twin

It is 2035, and a customer is taking delivery of not only a new aircraft but also a highly detailed digital model specific to that aircraft’s tail number—its airframe, engines and systems. 

Built up over the course of design, development, testing and production, and ultra-realistic down to the level of unique manufacturing flaws, the model will accompany the aircraft throughout its service life. Mirroring its flights exactly, the model’s simulations will be compared with data from the real aircraft to identify anomalies, predict maintenance needs and forecast remaining life.

The “digital twin” is one effort under way to push computational engineering tools to new levels of capability, from model-based design through virtual prototyping and flight testing, to simulation-based certification. To achieve the vision will require substantial government and industry investment in advancing and integrating design tools such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for aerodynamics and finite element modeling (FEM) for structures.