Digital Twins and Machine Learning

Highlights

• A digital model is defined as a drawing, computer simulation, finite element, or CFD representation without any effect from the physical object, so a finite element ship model is not a digital twin.
• A digital shadow is defined by a one-way data flow, in which a change in the state of the physical object is reflected in its digital copy, with no feedback in the other direction.
• A digital twin is defined by a two-way data flow, in which the digital copy receives the physical states, processes them, and returns newly generated data as a basis for decisions.
• Two architectures are described, one for the ship life cycle and one for a machinery unit from the electric motor to the propeller, both starting from a sensor-instrumented physical twin.
• Decision support is produced as the output, such as speed reduction under high structural load, with cloud computing, internet of things, machine learning, and big data enabling real time exchange.