A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
An Open-Source Framework For CFD-Based Digital Twins: A Case Study On Storm Water Management
Authors: Shahsavari, Sajad; Chaudhari, Ashvinkumar; Immonen, Eero; Haghbayan, Hashem
Editors: Marco Scarpa, Marco; Cavalieri, Salvatore; Serrano, Salvatore; De Vita, Fabrizio
Conference name: European Council for Modelling and Simulation
Publisher: ECMS
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Proceedings: European Conference for Modelling and Simulation
Book title : Proceedings of the 39th ECMS International Conference on Modelling and Simulation ECMS 2025
First page : 209
Last page: 215
ISBN: 978-3-937436-86-9
eISBN: 978-3-937436-85-2
ISSN: 2522-2414
eISSN: 2522-2422
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7148/2025-0209
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.7148/2025-0209
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/505989781
Digital Twins (DTs) are increasingly applied for optimization of operations in logistics, healthcare, smart cities, and beyond. However, implementing high-fidelity DTs remains challenging in computationally intensive domains such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). While simplified models can facilitate real-time operation, they often lack physical fidelity. This article presents an open-source scalable software framework along with a case study of CFD-based digital twining on stormwater management.
The presented framework enables online execution of CFD-based models by containerizing and integrating them into OpenShift platform, providing a two-way communication channel for simulation parameters and results. The framework is capable of dynamically scaling computing resources to run computationally-intensive CFD-models. In the case study, we present a novel CFD simulation model of a bioretention cell intended to reduce runoff volumes of urban stormwater. The simulation model, implemented in OpenFOAM, is then integrated into the presented software framework to create the DT. The framework source code, simulation model and the DT are made publicly available to promote future research.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, funded project ISMO – Intelligent and sustainable stormwater management. We gratefully acknowledge the Center for Scientific Computing (CSC) for providing computational resources and hosting support through the Rahti server.
