A perspective on component-level digital twins for surface marine propulsion system health monitoring: need and feasibility

Digital Twin

Abstract

Failures in marine propulsion systems pose significant safety and economic risks through loss-of-propulsion events. Although statistically infrequent, emerging maritime trends such as energy transition, alternative propulsion technologies, and Arctic navigation are expected to increase vulnerability to component failures, underscoring the need for advanced condition monitoring. This perspective article establishes component-level digital twins as an important but underexplored research direction. It introduces a scale-based characterisation of DTs from nano-level phenomena to process-level systems. It identifies the key barriers to practical implementation, including computational cost, dynamic modelling limitations, data scarcity and ownership constraints, communication challenges, and limited industry–academia collaboration. To address these gaps, the paper proposes the Digital Twin Research Hub (DTRH), a conceptual framework integrating risk-based prioritisation, physics-based modelling, surrogate modelling, and data-driven approaches. An experimentally validated bond graph-based simulation for torsional responses with placeholders for surrogate models is presented as an initiative. Finally, through a scholarly discussion, the study establishes the need for and feasibility of component-level DTs as an underexplored research direction for improving the reliability of marine propulsion systems through enhanced condition monitoring.

Authors 11

1. Mihiran Galagedarage Don

   Memorial University of Newfoundland · Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland

   Materials to Products Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

2. Ghazanfar Mehdi corresponding

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Energy Conversion and Systems Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

3. Riku Ala-Laurinaho

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Mechatronics Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

4. Mikko Suominen

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Marine and Arctic Technology Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

5. Mashrura Musharraf

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Marine and Arctic Technology Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

6. Osiris Alejandro Valdez Banda

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Marine and Arctic Technology Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

7. Junhe Lian Aachen Institute of Metal Forming

   RWTH Aachen University · Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Metal Forming, RWTH Aachen University

   Materials to Products Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

8. Amin Etminan

   Memorial University of Newfoundland

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland

9. Ossi Tapani Kaario

   Aalto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Energy Conversion and Systems Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

10. Sven Bossuyt

    Aalto University

    Affiliation as printed

    Materials to Products Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University

11. Pedro Vilaça

    Aalto University

    Affiliation as printed

    Materials to Products Research Group, Department of EME, Aalto University