Stefan Boschert

Digital Twin—The Simulation Aspect

The vision of the Digital Twin itself refers to a comprehensive physical and functional description of a component, product or system, which includes more or less all information which could be useful in all—the current and subsequent—lifecycle phases. In this chapter we focus on the simulation aspects of the Digital Twin. Today, modelling and simulation is a standard process in system development, e.g. to support design tasks or to validate system properties. During operation and for service first simulation-based solutions are realized for optimized operations and failure prediction. In this sense, simulation merges the physical and virtual world in all life cycle phases. Current practice already enables the users (designer, SW/HW developers, test engineers, operators, maintenance personnel, etc) to master the complexity of mechatronic systems.

Workflows for the exchange of specialized CAx data

ABSTRACTIn recent years, numerous approaches and solutions for CAx data exchange in typical application cases have been developed. However, individual needs in one-off developments have not yet been addressed. This paper presents a methodology for the exchange of specialized CAx data between a design and a simulation department – in particular, between CAD and other simulation tools. Generic steps such as filtering, aggregation and pre-processing as well as selection and use of suitable interfaces result in adaptable and reusable “workflows.” As our example of an industrial conveyor system demonstrates, defining and using such workflows accelerates the modeling phase, ensures transparency of the development process, and enables reuse and refinement of process steps and intermediate results.

System- und Multiphysiksimulation in der CTP Entwicklung

System- und Simulationsmodelle sind feste Bestandteile im Modelbased Systems Engineering von cybertronischen Systemen, bei denen cyberphysische und mechatronische Eigenschaften kombiniert auftreten. In diesem Kapitel wird ein generisches Konzept fur die inhaltliche Synchronisation von Systemmodellen und disziplinubergreifenden Simulationsmodellen vorgestellt. Das Synchronisationskonzept unterstutzt System- und Simulationsingenieure ein gemeinsames Verstandnis fur das zu entwickelnde System aufzubauen und ermoglicht Informationslucken in beiden Modellen systematisch aufzudecken sowie Inkonsistenzen zu identifizieren und nachvollziehbar aufzulosen. Der Ansatz ermoglicht ferner eine Reduktion des Modellierungsaufwands durch die teilautomatische Erzeugung und Parametrisierung von Simulationsmodellen aus dem Systemmodell heraus.

Modellbildung und Simulation

Simulation ist eine in Wissenschaft und Industrie haufig genutzte und bewahrte Methode, die bei der Entwicklung von Systemen, wie z. B. cybertronischen Produkten und Produktionssystemen, eingesetzt wird. In diesem Kapitel wird aufgezeigt, welche veranderte Rolle die Simulation im Entwicklungsprozess in Zukunft einnehmen wird. Dies adressiert bereits in fruhen Entwicklungsphasen eine engere Verknupfung zwischen Systemmodellen und der Simulation sowie die Verbindung zwischen der Produktentwicklung und der Produktionssystementwicklung.

A Lightweight Approach to Manage Engineering Parameters in Mechatronic Design Processes

In mechatronic design processes the exchange of information between stakeholders from different disciplines is essential to enable simultaneous engineering and a successful integration of domain specific subsystems. Although there is a comprehensive range of methodologies and tools to support collaboration, intentions to implement a central data management platform covering all stakeholders often do not succeed. Reasons are the heterogeneous model landscape, the variety of stand-alone authoring tools, departments’, disciplines’ or companies’ boundaries and a lack of flexibility of established solutions regarding the support of unpredictable and quickly changing design processes. This paper focuses on the management of individual parameters and parameter instances (values) within a multi-disciplinary development team. The presented lightweight approach can extend existing methods and data management infrastructure by adding functionalities to provide access to individual parameters using a dedicated database. The procedure is shown by the example of a technical mechanism.