System for tracking incremental damage accumulation

A method for predicting a residual life of a physical asset, the steps comprising:

• providing a digital twin system including at least one user computer having a graphical user interface permitting a user receive at least one of a damage event warning, an end of life warning, and a status report, and at least one server in communication with the at least one user computer, the at least one server including at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory including a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon, and an administration subsystem in communication with a data source, the administration subsystem including at least one database and configured to receive operating history data of the physical asset from the data source, and store the operating history data of the physical into the at least one database, and a simulator in communication with the administration subsystem;
• storing, by the simulator, the digital twin of the physical asset, the digital twin including a model of the physical asset and a current damage state, into the at least one memory;
• receiving, by the simulator, the periodic residual life simulation from the administration subsystem;
• receiving, by the simulator, the operating history data of the physical asset from the administration subsystem;
• updating, by the simulator, the digital twin of the physical asset with the operating history data of the physical asset, using a fatigue solver algorithm to update the current damage state of the digital twin, thereby providing an updated digital twin, and
• generating, by the simulator, a residual life prediction for the physical asset by using the fatigue solver algorithm with a hypothetical operating history data and the updated digital twin, the residual life prediction indicative of the residual life before reaching a failure mode associated with the physical asset in operation.

A digital twin system for predicting a residual life of a physical asset, comprising:

• at least one user computer having a graphical user interface permitting a user to receive at least one of a damage event warning, an end of life warning, and a status report;
• and
• at least one physical sensor in communication with the physical asset, configured to monitor at least one of load, displacement, temperature, and acceleration of the physical asset;
• an administration server in communication with at least one of the user computer and a data source, the administration server including one processor and at least one memory,
• the at least one memory including a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon and at least one database, the administration server configured
• to receive operating history data of the physical asset from the data source, the data source is at least one of the at least one physical sensor and the user manually inputting the operating history data into the system via the at least one user computer, and
• store the operating history data of the physical asset into the at least one database;
• and
• a simulator server in communication with the administration server, the simulator including one processor and at least one memory, the memory including a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon, and configured for
• storing the digital twin of the physical asset, the digital twin including a finite element analysis model of the physical asset and a current damage state,
• receiving the periodic residual life simulation from administration server,
• receiving the operating history data of the physical asset from the administration server,
• updating the digital twin of the physical asset with the operating history data of the physical asset, using a fatigue solver algorithm and critical plane analysis to update the current damage state of the digital twin, thereby providing an updated digital twin,
• generating a residual life prediction for the physical asset by using the fatigue solver algorithm and critical plane analysis with a hypothetical operating history data, the hypothetical operating history data is at least one of cycles of a hypothetical ideal load case and cycles of a total operating history of the physical asset, and the updated digital twin, the residual life prediction indicative of the residual life before reaching a failure mode associated with the physical asset in operation,
• automatically generating the at least one of the damage event warning, the end of life warning, and the status report to the at least one user computer where at least one of where the size of a crack exceeds a maximum size and where remaining cycles of an ideal hypothetical load case exceeds a minimum threshold;
• and
• wherein the fatigue solver algorithm is:
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• Δc is a change in crack length,
• i is a time period,
• j is an element of the model,
• k is a plane orientation,
• r is a crack growth rate,
• T is an energy release rate,
• εmn is a strain tensor history,
• θ is a temperature history,
• c is a crack length, and
• N is cycles.