On Risk of Digital Twin Implementation in Marine Industry: Learning from Aviation Industry

Amir R Nejad,Michaela Ibrion,Nicola Paltrinieri

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1357/1/012009

Amir R Nejad, Michaela Ibrion + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1357/1/012009

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Abstract

This paper presents some aspects of the risk and challenges associated with digital twin implementation in the marine industry by learning from the aviation industry where the digital twin is more widely employed. The digital twin applications in aviation and marine industries are presented and the main steps of developing a digital twin are discussed. The three main steps of sensors (measurements), model, and data analysis are identified and used in the study. The lessons from two recent accidents in the aviation industry (Boeing 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019) are studied in details and discussed. It was found that the sensor reliability, model failure and wrong decisions as the output of the data processing are among the risks associated with digital twin implementations. In particular, from the case study accidents, it was found that the digital twin may not be able to represent all the possible scenarios which a system may experience in its life time. The digital twin presents many advantages, however the implementation of the digital twin is associated with risk and high uncertainties, even in the industries like the aviation industry, where the digital twin is well established and at a higher advanced level than in the marine industry.

Highlights

Digitalization is becoming an integral part of the engineering arena, and an interesting technology which aspires to move industries forward is the digital twin
This paper presents some aspects of the risk and challenges associated with digital twin implementation in the marine industry by learning from the aviation industry where the digital twin is more widely employed
Research approach The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the sources of risk associated with building and implementation of a digital twin in marine industry by learning from aviation industry which is an industry where the digital twin concept has been well established

Summary

Introduction

Digitalization is becoming an integral part of the engineering arena, and an interesting technology which aspires to move industries forward is the digital twin. With regards to the aviation industry, Dennis Muilenburg, the Boeing CEO, mentioned in his speech at the panel discussion in Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference – California, on 12 September 2018 – that the digital twins usage for component production has increased the quality of parts and systems used in aircraft production by 40 percentage. Muilenburg highlighted that because of digital twin usage “We are seeing things like 40 to 50 percentage improvements in first time quality”. Digital twin makes real-time updates accessible by all users, enables virtual system integration and test, reduce development costs and the risk of design problems. Digital twin contribute to improve performance, to generate savings and to increase operational flexibility [4]

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Conclusion