Bearing Digital Twin Based on Response Model and Reinforcement Learning

In recent years, research on bearing fault modeling has witnessed significant advancements. However, the modeling of bearing faults using digital twins (DTs) remains an emerging area of exploration. This paper introduces a bearing digital twin developed by integrating a signal-based response model with reinforcement learning techniques. Initially, a signal-based model is constructed, comprising a unit fault impulse function and a decay oscillation function. This model illustrates the bearing’s acceleration response under fault conditions and acts as the environmental component within the bearing digital twin. Subsequently, a parameter estimation process identifies two critical parameters from the signal-based model: the load proportional factor and the decaying constant. The Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm is employed as the agent for online learning of these parameters. The cosine similarity metric is employed to define the state and reward by comparing the real acceleration measurements with the simulation data generated by the digital twin. To validate the effectiveness of the digital twin, experimental data sourced from the three datasets are utilized. The results underscore the digital twin’s capacity to faithfully replicate the bearing’s acceleration response under diverse conditions, demonstrating a high degree of similarity in both the time and frequency domains.