Concepts and trends of virtual commissioning – A comprehensive review
Nikolai Striffler, Tobias Voigt
Abstract
Against the background of increasing plant complexity and growing automation, virtual commissioning (VC) has emerged as a suitable way of testing control algorithms. Here, a control system at either hardware or software level is connected to a simulation model which behaves in a way reasonably similar to the real plant concerned. To date, however, VC has been used primarily by big companies only: it has not yet established itself as a standard method for SMEs. In this comprehensive review, the scientific approaches to VC have been analysed and categorised. The aim here is to give an exhaustive overview of the current state-of-the-art; to present the relevant critical challenges and to discuss current approaches. To this end, the entire spectrum of VC topics is considered. First, the technological implementation of VC is introduced. Then, the model building process is explained comprehensively, including plant analysis, finding a suitable depth of modelling and techniques for both behaviour and kinematic modelling. Based on this, methods are discussed that aim to reduce the effort involved in model creation, such as physics-based simulation and approaches to (semi-) automatic model creation. Next, the central role of VC models is presented. This is in order to discuss the potential for using cross-discipline, lifecycle-wide models from the early development phase right through to a simulation-based, digital twin. Finally, existing research gaps are highlighted and directions for exciting, new research are described.