Developing a Calibrated Physics-Based Digital Twin for Construction Vehicles

This paper presents the development of a calibrated digital twin of a wheel loader. A calibrated digital twin integrates a construction vehicle with a high-fidelity digital model allowing for automated diagnostics and optimization of operations as well as pre-planning simulations enhancing automation capabilities. The high-fidelity digital model is a virtual twin of the physical wheel loader. It uses a physics-based multibody dynamic model of the wheel loader in the software AGX Dynamics. Interactions of the wheel loader's bucket while in use in construction can be simulated in the virtual model. Calibration makes this simulation of high-fidelity which can enhance realistic planning for automation of construction operations. In this work, a wheel loader was instrumented with several sensors used to calibrate the digital model. The calibrated digital twin was able to estimate the magnitude of the forces on the bucket base with high accuracy, providing a high-fidelity simulation.