The Air Force Digital Thread/Digital Twin - Life Cycle Integration and Use of Computational and Experimental Knowledge

Computational and experimental fluid dynamics have been integrated into aeronautical system development processes in varying degrees over the last forty years and have yet to achieve their full promise for reducing the cost and time for development. What has been missing is a holistic advance in the integration not just of computers and wind tunnels but of the organizational constructs and development processes that enable unleashing the full capability of integrated computational and experimental methods. Recent Department of Defense (DoD) policies and guidance focused on organic engineering capabilities, government insight into technical performance, and application of system models over the life cycle are enabling a major paradigm shift toward life cycle integration of computational and experimental knowledge. In conjunction with these new policies, the United States Air Force is developing and applying a Digital Thread/Digital Twin analytical framework to provide engineering analysis capabilities and support to decision making over the entire lifecycle of air vehicles. The Digital Thread/Digital Twin merges physics-based modeling and experimental data to generate an authoritative digital representation of the system at each phase of the acquisition and sustainment process of a weapon system. In this paper the history of integrated computational and experimental fluid dynamics is reviewed as a precursor for the emerging paradigm shift toward a virtual government monopsony that enables a focused application of modeling capabilities and management of knowledge and tools over the life cycle. Illustrations of the potential impact of the new paradigm are also presented.