Large Language Model-Guided Digital Twin Framework for Smart Laminated Structures with Viscoelastic Damping
Keywords:
digital twin; smart laminated structures; viscoelastic damping; large language models; structural health monitoring; system architecture; sustainable infrastructureAbstract
The convergence of digital twin technology, smart laminated structures, and large language models (LLMs) offers a promising pathway toward autonomous, resilient, and interpretable structural health management. In this paper, we propose a conceptual system architecture for an LLM-guided digital twin framework specifically tailored for laminated composite structures integrating viscoelastic damping layers. Such structures, widely employed in aerospace and high-performance mechanical systems, exhibit complex multiphysics dynamics that challenge conventional physics-based simulation. The framework leverages an LLM layer as a cognitive mediator, enabling natural language-driven interrogation, knowledge-augmented model updating, and high-level reasoning about structural states. We examine the system-level design decisions, data flow architectures, edge-cloud continuum deployments, and orchestration of heterogeneous sensing modalities. A key emphasis is placed on structural trade-offs including latency, accuracy, energy footprint, and fairness of AI-driven decision support. Moreover, we discuss governance mechanisms required to ensure transparency, safety, and accountability when an LLM influences safety-critical engineering judgments. The sustainability dimension is addressed through life cycle considerations of both the digital infrastructure and the monitored physical structures. By reframing the digital twin as a sociotechnical asset rather than a mere simulation replica, this article charts forward-looking policy and infrastructural requirements for next-generation intelligent structures. The analysis is supported by a critical synthesis of recent advances in structural health monitoring, viscoelastic modeling, foundation models, and industrial digital twin standards.
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