Using finite element analysis to develop a digital twin of a manufacturing bending operation

In smart manufacturing, a digital twin is the virtual counterpart of a physical manufacturing system and can be considered as having three elements: machine, product and process. To demonstrate this concept, a physical manufacturing testbed was developed which bends metal into V-brackets alongside a digital twin counterpart consisting of the three elements. The process digital twin uses finite element modelling to predict product stress during the bending operation, and the residual stress and bend angle post-bending. The bend angles predicted by the process digital-twin were within 0.5° and 3° of the physical product for two different test scenarios.