Bloom Engineering is officially a new member of the Steel Manufacturing Simulation & Visualization Consortium (SMSVC). Mr. Dave Schalles, VP-Technical Services, will represent their company on the SMSVC Board.
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Congratulations to the 18 high school and community college teachers who completed the six-week NSF Research Experience for Teachers summer program at CIVS. At the end of the summer program, the teachers presented their research projects and how their research will be implemented in their course curriculum over the school year.
In addition to carrying out their research, teachers developed lesson plans to use with their students during the school year that tie their research experiences to academic standards and introduce them to potential careers in research and industry.
RET facilitator and CIVS Senior Research Scientist John “Jack” Moreland concluded the session by presenting the teachers with their certificates of achievement during the RET Teacher Ceremony. This event celebrates their achievement and a chance to showcase their future goals for enhancing STEM education and students’ STEM interest.
The National Science Foundation sponsors the RET program to support authentic summer research experiences for K-14 educators to foster long-term collaborations between universities, community colleges, school districts, and industry partners.
Congratulations to the following area teachers who joined us for this summer’s RET session:
Tim Amour, Portage High School
Kelly Chevalier, Crown Point High School
Stephanie Crook, Hebron High School
Susan Garrison, Portage High School
Allie Howard, Northfield Mount Hermon High School
Kevin Kaluf, Kankakee Valley High School
Abigail Kraupner, Highland High School
Aaron Longacre, Merrillville High School
Sarah Moreland, Hobart Middle School
Erin Rawls, Crown Point High School
Rami Salahieh, Ivy Tech Community College
Frank Savaglio, Bloom High School
Chris Smith, La Porte High School
Neerja Sterling, Merrillville High School
Shermaine Wade, Morton High School
Linda Watson, Eggers Middle School
Tiffany White, Homewood-Flossmoor High School
Dima Yasin, Devry University
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Senior Research Engineer, Nicholas Walla presented at the Summer Heat Transfer Conference 2023 held in Washington DC, on July 10-12, 2023.
Nick presented two papers during two separate sessions of the conference:
“Hydrogen-Fueled Regenerative Burners in a Reheating Furnace” was presented during the Applications of Computational Heat Transfer II session. This paper details the process of modifying burner configuration for steel reheating furnace to improve performance of hydrogen-fueled burners and prevent negative effects such as hazardous emissions.
“Spray Overlap and Heat Transfer Coefficient Uniformity in the Continuous Casting” was presented during the Spray Cooling session. This paper explores different spray configurations in secondary cooling to improve the cooling rate of cast steel while avoiding uneven heating that can cause dangerous failure.
The Summer Heat Transfer Conference brings together international researchers and engineers focusing on heat and mass transfer in a variety of applications. It includes technical paper sessions, plenary lectures, committee meetings and social events. The conference is hosted by ASME, which includes more than 140,000 members in 151 countries.
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This past June, CIVS attended the European Steel Technology and Application Days (ESTAD) conference in Dusseldorf, Germany to present exciting new results in steel research. The 6th European Steel Technology and Application Days (ESTAD) 2023 ran in parallel with the METEC Trade Fair.
The topics presented included the latest research in the use of hydrogen fuels in steel reheating furnaces and electric arc heating of the steel refining ladle. Both of these works, presented by CIVS Senior Research Engineer Nicholas Walla, are part of the global efforts of the steel industry towards removing or reducing carbon emissions that occur as part of the production of steel.
ESTAD 2023 was broadly focused around new and transformative technologies that can advance steel quality, reduce emissions, and incorporate new technologies such as AI. Attendees came from around the world to present the newest steel research and to discuss the future of steel manufacturing. The event also coincided with the 12th International Metallurgic Trade Fair with Congress (METEC).
In the topic of decarburization and reducing emissions, CIVS presented research on “Numerical Modeling of Hydrogen Staged Combustion to Mitigate NOx”, which explored the emissions that occur when using hydrogen fuel in place of typical natural gas in a reheating furnace using numerical simulations. As the global steel industry moves towards green steel, the ability to use simulations to explore potential design and fuel changes becomes an increasingly-important step to avoid costly dead-ends.
The second topic presented by CIVS was “Numerical Study and Validation of Electric Arc Heating in a Steel Ladle”, which uses simulations to see the temperature changes that occur within liquid steel while undergoing electric arc heating. Electric arc heating is a common process used to heat liquid steel, but identifying the interior behavior of the steel is nearly impossible due to the high temperatures. Simulation efforts allow researchers to “see inside” the liquid steel during heating and explore different operation approaches. This is key to avoiding damage to the ladle vessel that might be caused by over-heating, and to avoid issues from incomplete heating.
Since the inception of the METEC in 1979, the Steel Institute VDEh has hosted various metallurgical conferences in parallel to the leading metallurgical trade fair. METEC & 6th ESTAD 2023 hosted steel experts representing 240 companies from 33 countries, who gave presentations on topics of Ironmaking, Steelmaking, Rolling & Forging, Industry 4.0, and Steel Materials. Despite the broad range of topics, this year’s ESTAD was dominated by “Hydrogen-based steel production”.
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Former CIVS graduate research assistant John Rosser, joined Raytheon Technologies in Tucson, Arizona as a Systems Engineer II. John graduated with a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University Northwest. He conducted research at CIVS since the fall semester of his senior year. His many accomplishments include:
Second Place in the Undergraduate Student Awards at the 2021 Days of Discovery
First place in the 2022 AIST graduate student poster contest
Presenter at the AIST Scrap Supplements and Alternative Ironmaking Conference
As a research assistant at CIVS, John created two new models; one capturing jamming phenomenon in a DRI continuous feed system, and one simulating thermal stress in reheating furnaces. John was also a member of the IVBF project team that focused on the casting rate sensor. This project provided students with a deeper understanding of the blast furnace process and its operation.
“Working at CIVS provided me with an exceptional opportunity to prepare for my career as an engineer in a way that conventional college courses could not match. My time at CIVS challenged me to become a better engineer by placing me in situations where I had to work hard and develop new skills to succeed. Collaborating with engineers from both industry and academia on substantial industrial projects, and conducting research in support of the steel industry’s goal of decarbonization were highlights of my experience. Additionally, I had the honor of presenting my research project to fellow researchers and industry professionals in the field…”
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CIVS Researcher John Moreland presented at the annual American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) conference in Baltimore, MD on June 28. The research poster focused on the 2022-23 year of the ongoing “Research Experiences for Teachers” program, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The 6-week summer program and follow-up academic-year activities give teachers from around Northwest Indiana the opportunity to learn how to use advanced computer simulation and visualization tools, take part in research related to the steel industry and power generation, and develop curriculum to relate their research experiences back to their students during the regular school year. CIVS recently welcomed a new group of teachers for the 2023-24 year of the program, which began June 12. Some of the returning teachers recently took part in a discussion panel designed to relate their lessons learned and help mentor new teachers.
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Representatives from United States Steel Gary Works visited CIVS for a demonstration of the ongoing crane training simulator project in June. The simulator will allow workers to experience and work hands-on with a virtual version based on the crane(s) that they actually work on in the plant. This unique hands-on experience creates a way for workers to train and prepare for live crane training in a risk free virtual environment.
CIVS staff held the demonstration, ran tests, and discussed the next steps in the project’s development. The U. S. Steel team included 5 representatives who are involved in daily crane operations and training: Kurt Sander, Jeffery Maxfield, Tyrell Anderson, Jason Rodriguez, Jonathan Downs. Development of similar simulators of other cranes at U. S. Steel are in the planning stages. U. S. Steel is a member of the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC).
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CIVS was selected to provide one of two oral presentations to U.S. Department of Energy peer reviewers on the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office’s ongoing efforts in steelmaking research. Project PI, Research Associate Professor Tyamo Okosun, traveled to Washington D.C. on May 17th, 2023, to summarize efforts and activities in the $7M Integrated Virtual Blast Furnace project during performance period #1.
A range of other projects were presented during the peer review to detail DOE’s research portfolio to peer reviewers across the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). Dr. Okosun and CIVS Director Chenn Zhou engaged with DOE peer reviewers and officials as well as industry and academic field experts at the Annual Peer Review, exploring opportunities for further collaboration and research in the fields of steelmaking, energy, and Decarbonization.
Additionally, on April 1st, 2023, the IVBF project team met the technical requirements to proceed through the project’s first Go/No-go decision point. After review with the U.S. DOE project team, the project was approved to continue into the second of three performance periods, supported by the next stage of DOE funding ($1.9M). Performance period #2 will focus on the development of blast furnace stability indices, implementation and refinement of Reduced Order Models (ROMs), and coordination with U. S. Steel on the deployment of a casting rate sensor prototype at Gary Works #14 blast furnace before performance period #3 can begin in 2024.
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Kyle Toth, Senior Research Engineer at CIVS, was elected Vice Chair of the Safety and Health Technology Committee during the committee’s meeting at AISTech2023.
Kyle was nominated into the vice chair position after serving as the Papers Chair of the Safety and Health Technology Committee over the last year. The first committee meeting where Kyle will perform duties as Vice Chair will be in September 2023.
The responsibilities of Vice Chair include helping plan and participate in events and meetings held by the committee, and to assume the responsibility of the chair if they are unable to be present at these events or meetings. The position will be in effect for the next two years, to be revisited at AISTech 2025.
The Safety and Health Technology Committee’s mission is to serve and support all AIST Technology Committees by providing and disseminating information on health and safety technologies through educational programs, assisting in the understanding of applicable regulations, and providing a forum for the exchange of safety-related topics and industry best practices.
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CIVS has kicked off its third year of hosting the NSF-sponsored Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on Monday, June 12. The program is hosting STEM teachers from around the region and the country for six weeks as they learn to carry out research using advanced simulation and visualization tools to work on real world problems from industry. This years’ cohort includes 18 teachers who will each be conducting research related to one of the following projects:
Investigating the impact of using hydrogen instead of natural gas in power plants.
Decarbonizing flue gas in steel mill reheating furnaces by replacing natural gas with hydrogen.
Studying the effects of thermal stress in steel products.
Assessing the use of interactive virtual training software for improving safety and hygiene in the steel industry.
The opening day activities included a welcome by campus leaders and department heads, introducing teachers to their research projects and mentors, tour and demonstrations of related research, and hearing from previous year RET teachers about their research experiences. The 6-week summer program will run from June 12 – July 21. In addition to carrying out their research, teachers will also be developing lesson plans to use with their students during the school year that tie their research experiences to academic standards and introduce their students to potential careers in research and industry. At the end of the summer program, teachers will present their research methodology, results, analysis, lesson plans, and discuss follow-up plans for the academic school year.
The RET program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation with the aim of supporting authentic summer research experiences for K-14 educators to foster long-term collaborations between universities, community colleges, school districts, and industry partners. The program seeks to enhance teacher scientific disciplinary knowledge and translate their research experiences into classroom activities and curricula to broaden their students’ awareness of and participation in computing and engineering pathways.
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