In a recent survey, some 68% of manufacturing industry respondents said their organisation has made public commitments to a carbon reduction plan by 2050, with many setting interim target dates for milestones. However, in the same survey, the respondents acknowledged that there are many potential barriers to achieving those commitments.
The engineering community is increasingly adopting digital testing methods, driven by their efficiency, cost-effectiveness and the ability to simulate complex scenarios that are difficult to replicate physically. Tools such as finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and digital twins allow engineers to predict product performance under various conditions without the need for physical prototypes. These digital techniques are lauded for their ability to accelerate development cycles and reduce costs.
“We are not in the incremental development and product improvement phase in industry anymore, we have an accelerated change to electric mobility and zero carbon emissions,” says Johannes Mann, senior director industry solutions, Hexagon. “We’re now trying to squeeze 20 years of development into five and, based on that, the time has come where the people who have been reluctant to accept the virtual testing of things need to adapt and give it a try.”
However, despite the advances and faith in digital testing, physical testing remains. Digital models, no matter how sophisticated, rely on assumptions and simplifications that might not fully encapsulate real-world behaviours.
A role to play
Garth Wiley, senior engineer, Six DoF Testing & Analysis, explains that while the impact of digital tools cannot be overstated, this does not diminish the value of physical testing. In fact, over the past several decades, testing is largely responsible for the evolution and advancement of such tools. “Data collected from products operating in their natural environment provides the baseline for these digital tools,” he reasons. “Equipment operating in mining or construction environments, for example, is instrumented with sensors to capture exact loads, stresses and conditions to which these products are routinely subjected.”
Regulatory requirements
One of the strongest arguments for the necessity of physical testing is its role in certification and regulatory compliance. Many industries – including aerospace, automotive, medical devices and construction – are governed by stringent standards that mandate physical testing to ensure safety and performance.
Regulatory bodies require physical testing as part of their certification processes. For example, in the automotive industry, crash tests are mandatory to verify that vehicles meet safety standards. Similarly, in aerospace, components and systems must undergo rigorous physical testing to ensure they can withstand the stresses of flight.
These regulations are in place because, despite the robustness of digital simulations, they cannot capture every potential failure mode or environmental factor. Physical testing provides empirical evidence that a product can endure real-world conditions, thus ensuring public safety and compliance with legal requirements.
However, Mann argues that despite there being a demand for physical testing, these products will have already been virtually tested. “You can start with 100 ideas and virtually test out the most promising ones ending up with one or two and then you go into final testing, but the maturity of the design and the processes you finally test is way higher than it has been before.”
The human touch
At the production phase, quality control remains a critical area where physical testing is indispensable. Quality control processes often involve sampling physical products from production lines and subjecting them to various tests to ensure they meet predefined standards. These tests can include mechanical stress tests, thermal cycling, dimensional inspections, and more.
Human oversight in quality control is crucial, even as automation and AI begin to play larger roles. Experienced inspectors can identify subtle defects or anomalies that automated systems might miss. For example, a trained eye might catch surface imperfections or slight deviations in colour that a machine might overlook.
However, the role of humans in quality control is evolving. Advanced technologies are augmenting human capabilities, making the process more efficient and accurate. Automated inspection systems equipped with machine vision and AI can analyse products faster and more consistently than human inspectors. These systems are particularly valuable for high-volume production lines where manual inspection would be impractical.
Physical testing’s future
As AI, machine learning and digital twin technologies continue to advance, the landscape of physical testing is poised to evolve. Digital twins, in particular, offer a promising avenue for integrating physical and digital testing. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical product that can simulate its behaviour in real-time, based on data collected from sensors embedded in the actual product.
“In a growing number of cases we’re able to leverage a customer’s in-house resources without the time and expense to send test engineers onsite,” says Wiley. “Through today’s hi-def imaging and collaboration applications we’re able to guide test setup, collect data and monitor tests remotely. Test data can be uploaded to the cloud and reviewed in real time. Similarly, we’re now able to monitor mobile structures for large channel count, for longer durations, and at higher frequency requirements. Capturing displacement, vibration and stress without the need to be physically onsite.”
Physical meets digital
The future of physical testing lies in its integration with digital technologies, creating a synergistic approach that leverages the strengths of both. Engineers can use digital simulations to design and refine products, reducing the number of physical prototypes needed. Once a design is finalised, physical testing can validate the digital models, ensuring they accurately represent real-world performance.
While digital testing methods have transformed engineering by offering powerful tools for simulation and analysis, physical testing remains a cornerstone of product development and quality assurance. The empirical validation provided by physical testing is crucial for meeting certification and regulatory requirements and ensuring product safety and performance.