Estimation of the Cost of Developing a Digital Twin Using Virtual Reality Technologies in the Metallurgical Industry

The relevance of the study is predetermined by the fact that digital twins remain one of the most promising technologies and determine the trajectory of industrial development for the long term. The object of the study is the process of using a digital twin in the metallurgical industry. The work reveals the essence and characterizes the key properties of various types of digital twins – Digital Twin Prototype (DTP), Digital Twin Instance (DTI), Digital Twin Aggregate (DTA), on the basis of which their comparative analysis is carried out. The authors have developed a hierarchical structure for the digital twin work project based on taking into account the processes that are necessary for the successful creation of a digital twin. The work explores and identifies the resources necessary to create a digital twin, as well as their cost. Based on this, the authors calculated the development assessment and substantiated the economic efficiency of a digital twin of a small-section wire mill in the metallurgical industry, which allows the process of testing new technological production modes and their analysis in a day with high accuracy, without stopping the main work and using additional material resources. The results of the study may be useful for specialists of industrial enterprises when forming strategies for the industrial complex in the process of digitalization. The results obtained can become the basis for the further development of the methodology for using the digital twin concept in the metallurgical industry.