Dassault Systèmes is forging ahead with a virtual twin technology that it believes can transform how aircraft are designed, manufactured, and maintained. Through virtual twins—digital replicas of physical objects, environments, or systems—engineers can simulate, test, and optimize aircraft using data points before physically making them.

Known for 3D and product life cycle management design, Dassault Systèmes can create a digital model that simulates an aircraft’s real-world behavior and forces of flight. This digital counterpart can replicate an aircraft’s structural components and aerodynamic performance. Dassault can also create twins of manufacturing facilities to head off potential production issues before any physical materials are committed to a build.

Proving Concepts

The U.S. Air Force, through its “ECreate Before You Aviate” initiative, is challenging aircraft manufacturers to prove the capabilities of new aircraft designs through simulations and digital models before physically building and flying them. This marks a shift where private companies and government agencies prioritize “proof of concept” testing upfront.

“We are really [developing models] across the board from commercial aviation to space to defense to supply chains or airlines,” said David Ziegler, v-p of aerospace and defense at Dassault Systèmes. “And the challenges are a little bit different, whether you focus on the defense world or whether you focus on commercialization. In defense, the name of the game is to ramp up production and to manage the growing complexity of the products. You’ve seen the shift and the transfer from fighter aircraft with platform to platforms and systems to systems, it's more and more complex. It’s how to manage that complexity while, at the same time, [managing] the production and distribution. 

“There is another paradigm shift in the short term: how do I increase my production and my supply chain? How do I manage my supply chain and the supply chain issues the world needs because everybody wants to travel? And at the same time, how do I manage decarbonization, which is something absolutely not related to defense?”

Virtual or digital twins have been used for decades to answer such questions, and have been called by various names. NASA used a form of this modeling during the Apollo missions, but the concept wasn’t named as such until the late ’90s—initially in reference to infrastructure and urban planning.

Weaving a ‘Digital Thread’

In healthcare, virtual twins of human organs aid medical research, drug development, and treatment plans. Digital twins in the automotive industry simulate driving conditions, optimize vehicle performance, and develop autonomous driving systems.

In aviation, manufacturers can improve airframe designs and fuel efficiency, and anticipate maintenance needs by replicating an aircraft's performance under various stressors.

“The first advantage is to be able to move faster and to the design, test, and find the most appropriate technology,” Ziegler said. “Because if we want to transition to one net-zero, it's not building an aircraft, but building an aircraft that will consume much less fuel, or that is going to be transitioning to a new form of energy. For this, we need new types of materials—more advanced composites. We need new types of flight controls [and] new shapes of aircraft. So there is a lot of new technology that we need to embed.”

Dassault has developed what it calls its “3DEXPERIENCE” platform to integrate data from various sources, including CAD models, simulation results, and real-world sensor data.

This platform (and others like it) generates highly accurate digital replicas and allows for prototyping without using finite resources. It also speeds up the process as the timeline between ideation and testing shortens in the digital world. The company’s goal is to create a seamless “digital thread” throughout an aircraft's life cycle that allows designers, engineers, and operators to collaborate and make data-driven decisions.

Virtual twins contribute to safer and more reliable aircraft by identifying potential risks and failures before they emerge in physical reality, Dassault believes. As technology advances, the potential applications of digital twin technology are expanding.

Dassault envisions a future where virtual and physical worlds converge. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things, businesses can create intelligent, self-optimizing products and systems—and potentially save significant funds in the development, manufacturing, and maintenance of aircraft, important as the demand for sustainability increases.