Multi-Condition Digital Twin Calibration for Axial Piston Pumps : Compound Fault Simulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a multi-condition digital twin calibration framework for axial piston pumps, enabling accurate simulation of compound faults and improving zero-shot fault diagnosis in hydraulic systems.

Contribution

It presents a novel physics-data coupled calibration method that explicitly addresses outlet flow ripple uncertainty and enhances fault simulation and diagnosis capabilities.

Findings

Accurately reproduces single and compound faults in simulations.

Enables robust zero-shot fault diagnosis across different operating conditions.

Improves predictive maintenance for complex hydraulic systems.

Abstract

Axial piston pumps are indispensable power sources in high-stakes fluid power systems, including aerospace, marine, and heavy machinery applications. Their operational reliability is frequently compromised by compound faults that simultaneously affect multiple friction pairs. Conventional data-driven diagnosis methods suffer from severe data scarcity for compound faults and poor generalization across varying operating conditions. This paper proposes a novel multi-condition physics-data coupled digital twin calibration framework that explicitly resolves the fundamental uncertainty of pump outlet flow ripple. The framework comprises three synergistic stages: in-situ virtual high-frequency flow sensing on a dedicated rigid metallic segment, surrogate model-assisted calibration of the 3D CFD source model using physically estimated ripple amplitudes, and multi-objective inverse transient analysis for viscoelastic unsteady-friction pipeline parameter identification. Comprehensive experiments on a test rig demonstrate that the calibrated digital twin accurately reproduces both single-fault and two representative compound-fault. These results establish a high-fidelity synthetic fault-generation capability that directly enables robust zero-shot fault diagnosis under previously unseen operating regimes and fault combinations, thereby advancing predictive maintenance in complex hydraulic systems.