Calibration of a digital twin for structural testing

Abstract

An efficient physical test of a composite structure shall provide a maximum of information while the efforts for preparation, testing, and evaluation shall be minimized. To deliver deeper insight into the structural behavior, a test-accompanying simulation through a virtual test rig and a model of the specimen is a state-of-the-art procedure. Typically, the specimen in this analysis is a nominal model representing the specimen as-designed. To improve the accuracy, the nominal model can be replaced by a digital twin (DT) of the individual specimen. This DT digitally represents the specimen as a physical entity. The present work presents a particular DT creation method for the purpose of structural testing. A DT shall be created from a nominal model by optimizing the deviations between the measurement data obtained from the physical entity and the respective values in the virtual space. This adoption of the DT concept is new to the field of structural composite testing and permits us to increase the accuracy of a test-accompanying simulation