Digital Twins in Simulative Applications: A Taxonomy

With the advances in information technology, the concept of Digital Twins has gained wide attention in both practice and research in recent years. A Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a physical object or system and is connected in a bi-directional way with the physical counterpart. The aim of a Digital Twin is to support all stakeholders during the whole lifecycle of such system or object. One of the core aspects of a Digital Twin is modeling and simulation, which is a well-established process, e.g., in the development of systems. Simulation models can be distinguished on the basis of different dimensions, e.g., on the basis of their time perspective. The existing literature reviews have paid little to no attention to this simulation aspect of a Digital Twin. In order to address this, the authors have developed a taxonomy based on an extended literature review to bridge the aforementioned gap.