Towards the validation of manufacturing simulations by means of digital twins: conception, implementation and data acquisition for a composite aircraft moveable manufacturing process

Abstract

Simulations are used in the development of structures. These methods and their results are increasingly applied on the way towards a more analysis-based certification process for aircraft structures. The absolute basis for being considered as an acceptable means of compliance (AMC) with regard to a certification paragraph is the validation of these methods and their respective results using physical test data. This contribution describes the approach of generating this validation data and its provision by means of a digital twin \cite{AIAAAIADigTwin202012} of a manufacturing process. The work is performed for the virtual production of the initial Virtual Product House (VPH) use case, a composite multispar moveable of a long-range reference aircraft configuration. It includes the definition of the desired validation data, modelling of the manufacturing process by means of an extended formalized process description (FPD) based on \cite{VDI3682:2015-05}, the choice of required sensors as well as their integration into an existing tooling as well as the structure itself. Furthermore, the realisation and data acquisition during the manufacturing process as well as the creation of a digital twin using a data model based on the formalised process is described. Finally, first results for the evaluation of the use case structure are presented. It is shown that is possible to provide a digital twin based on measured sensor data and provide preprocessing capabilities for this raw data to facilitate the validation of manufacturing process simulations. The creation of this digital twin and the overall realization of the manufacturing is greatly facilitated by the use of FPD and a derived digital life-data sheet (LDS).