Industrial applications of digital twins: A systematic investigation based on bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Digital twins have evolved into a mature concept, unleashing significant potential across diverse domains. The applications of digital twins are currently experiencing a period of rapid growth, with a particular emphasis on the industrial sector. While previous works have examined the frameworks and architectures of digital twins for industrial applications or explored applications within specific industrial fields, there is a gap in the review work concerning the specific characteristics of digital twins in industrial applications and the industrial processes to which this technology has been applied. To address this gap, digital twins’ overall and industrial perspectives are compared through bibliometric analysis to identify the specific development relationship, research hotspots, and knowledge structure of digital twins in industry. Building upon the bibliometric analysis results, this paper presents a complete survey on the technologies/tools supporting industrial applications. The results indicate that simulation, sensor, and cloud computing are predominant in the basic, core, and advanced technologies. Further, this work investigates various industrial processes utilizing digital twins. By combining the bibliometric analysis, it gives that additive manufacturing and machining processes get more attention from digital twins. Finally, according to Shneider’s theory, the evolution stage of digital twins in the industrial context is analyzed. It may have advanced to the late phase of Stage III, a prolific stage.