Novel Control-like Approach for the Robust Integration of Functional Mock-Up Units into Digital Twins

A novel approach for the robust integration of Functional Mock-up Units (FMUs) into Modelica is proposed, which maintains the computational robustness of the Modelica base model and minimizes the simulation time. Using a control-like approach, the base model is retained and mimics the FMU outputs. On the one hand, the controller can be interpreted as a numerical tool designed to provide a correct steady-state solution and minimize transient errors. On the other hand, the additional low-pass filter can also be used to represent the inertia of a system. The application of this easy-to-implement approach is demonstrated for a digital twin of the overall thermal management system (TMS) of a future hybrid electrical regional aircraft, which aims at identifying critical conditions and flight cases in advance of hardware tests and virtually demonstrating the behavior of the TMS during complete flight missions. To this end, a base model of the TMS is first set up using the Thermofluid Stream Modelica Library, which focuses on computational robustness, in order to define the boundaries and interfaces of the different subsystems. Then, the subsystems are gradually replaced by validated FMUs to enable virtual demonstrations, where the novel control-like approach proves to be crucial.