On February 2nd 2023, representatives from Gerdau visited the CIVS research center.  CIVS projects and technologies were demonstrated. The visit centered on a discussion of a recent project work between Gerdau and CIVS to study the behaviors of their reheating furnace using computational fluid dynamics simulations.  The collaborative project has generated useful results to improve the reheating furnace operation and productivity.  Discussions were also made on potential applications of CIVS simulation and visualization capabilities for safety and operations and hydrogen utilization.

Representatives from Gerdau included: Kevin Kondrat- Improvement Facilitator of Rolling Mill; Nathan Hough- Rolling Mill Superintendent; and Eduardo Scheid- GSN Technical Consultant. Gerdau is a leading producer of long steel in the Americas, and one of the world’s largest suppliers of special steel. Gerdau is also a member of the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC), a nationwide industry-led sustainable consortium housed at CIVS since 2016.

The post Gerdau Technical Manager and Staff Tour CIVS appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

On February 10th, CIVS Communications Intern, Charlene Benoit presented “Communicating and Presenting Research Findings” as part of the weekly student seminar and the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Standard training. RCR training is required for graduate and undergraduate students of the University who design and conduct research and/or report and publish research outcomes.

Charlene addressed methods such as building an abstract, explaining methodology, and tips for successfully presenting research findings. This weekly CIVS student event provides valuable exposure to industry standards and practices each Friday in the immersive theater. The goal of these seminars is to create reliable habits for students engaged in various CIVS research projects.

 

“One big takeaway for me was the use of clear and concise language in the abstract and avoiding long-winded sentences, as I’ve been working on a lot of abstracts currently.” –Anurag Karambelkar, CIVS graduate research assistant

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CIVS Graduate Research Assistant, Cristina Cabascango’s submission was chosen in The AIST Foundation Real Steel Video Contest. The 3-minute video is about how students, researchers, and steel makers are contributing to decarbonizing the steel industry, what technologies are being used, and some of the future technology that can help the industry to be more competitive and sustainable.

The AIST Foundation Real Steel Video Contest challenges students to research the steel industry and produce a three-minute original video that educates views on “Energy – Problem Solving with Steel”.

Find CIVS Graduate Research Assistant, Cristina Cabascango’s video here:

The Steel Industry of Today and Tomorrow

Public voting has started!

During the month of February, the public will play a part in determining the six finalists whose videos will be voted upon by a special Video Contest Committee formed by the UIRR. The six finalists are chosen based on the number of “likes” each individual video receives on YouTube. Once the six finalists are chosen, the Video Contest Committee will evaluate the videos based on the integration of key elements identified in the Video Contest Overview section above.

Prizes

A total of up to five (5) prizes of US$1,000, and one (1) prize of US$3,000 for the overall best video, may be awarded. Prizes are issued in a single check or via PayPal and should be divided among project team members.

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Program Details

JUNE 12 TO JULY 21, 2023

The RET Program, sponsored by National Science Foundation through a three-year grant, will take place from June 12th – July 21st, 2023 at the RET site established at CIVS on the Purdue University Northwest Hammond Campus.  Engineering, technology, science, and math teachers, are welcome to join us for this paid summer research program!

During the planned six-week program, selected High School and Community College teachers will have a chance to work hand-in-hand with CIVS Researchers and students on CIVS and SMSVC projects and participate in ongoing systems engineering and smart manufacturing research using cutting-edge simulation and visualization technologies. Their research will concentrate on real-world issues to increase energy efficiency, optimize production, and improve product quality and safety in industrial workplace settings. The goal is to enhance STEM education and stimulate high school and community college students’ STEM interests through a partnership with participant teachers, university mentors, and industry engineers using simulation and visualization technologies for innovative industrial solutions and model-based manufacturing.

Participants receive a $6500 stipend for completing the six-week summer research program.

Information Session

Monday, February 13, 2023, at 4:30 p.m.
https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/u/acesL4BwH

Application

The application deadline is Friday, March 10th. The application should include:

A resume showing the courses the applicant teaches
A personal statement/essay (up to two pages) describing your teaching philosophy
Which of the four projects are you interested in and how do you plan to apply the research experience to the classroom

Send all three required documents to [email protected] to apply.

The post Join Us for the RET Information Session appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

CIVS Researcher John “Jack” Moreland presented the final report for the Virtual Die Casting Simulator on February 2, 2023, at the NADCA Research & Development Committee meeting held at the University of California, Irvine. The presentation was a hybrid (in-person and virtual) and included attendees from the die-casting industry, academia, and government organizations.

The report represented the conclusion of the 5-year project, which created an innovative virtual simulator for die-casting companies to reduce the training time of new personnel and improve the capabilities of their workforce. This innovative learning process can improve the operator’s understanding of what is happening inside die-casting machines and melting furnaces. It allows operators to practice common and abnormal situations for operation and maintenance in a controlled environment to improve casting quality, energy, and cost savings, accelerated onboarding of new operators, and improved safety.

One of the highlights of the project is a new learning mode that lets operators see into transparent parts of the machine and view how liquid metal is injected and distributed inside the casting cavity. This feature has been combined with a quiz system that verifies the operator’s understanding of how machine parameters can affect the castings being produced.

The simulator was developed for the Meta Quest 2 headset but is also available in a standard mouse/keyboard version for PC. The simulator will be available to NADCA members and is distributed through the Meta App Lab by a downloadable link.

NADCA is a trade association advancing the North American die-casting industry by providing resources to help members solve technical, operational, and business challenges, while raising overall awareness of the industry’s critical role in manufacturing. NADCA educates key audiences on the die-casting industry’s importance and benefits as well as technologies to support our member’s business initiatives – stability, growth, talent acquisition, fair global competition, and awareness.

The post Virtual Die Casting Simulator Becomes Available to NADCA Members appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

After a highly successful Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program in 2021 & 2022, CIVS will again open its doors to High School and Community College teachers in the summer of 2023. The RET Program, sponsored by National Science Foundation through a three-year grant, will take place from June 12th – July 21st, 2023 at the RET site established at CIVS on the Purdue University Northwest Hammond Campus.  Engineering, technology, science, and math teachers, are welcome to join us for this paid summer research program!

During the planned six-week program, selected High School and Community College teachers will have a chance to work hand-in-hand with CIVS Researchers and students on CIVS and SMSVC projects and participate in ongoing systems engineering and smart manufacturing research using cutting-edge simulation and visualization technologies. Their research will concentrate on real-world issues to increase energy efficiency, optimize production, and improve product quality and safety in industrial workplace settings. The goal is to enhance STEM education and stimulate high school and community college students’ STEM interests through a partnership with participant teachers, university mentors, and industry engineers using simulation and visualization technologies for innovative industrial solutions and model-based manufacturing.

Teachers interested in participating in RET Program 2022 may obtain all the details through Zoom Information Sessions hosted by CIVS staff. Sessions will be held on February 13th, 2023 at 4:30p.m (https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/u/acesL4BwH)

For Zoom links for Information Sessions, as well as testimonials from previous participants and all other information about RET Program 2023, please visit https://www.pnw.edu/civs/ret/.

Application deadline is Friday, March 10. The application should include:

a resume showing the courses the applicant teaches
a personal statement/essay (up to two pages) describing teaching philosophy, which of the four projects they are interested in, and how they plan to apply the research experience to the classroom.

 

Event poster coming soon…

The post CIVS Announces Third Round of RET Program in Summer 2023 appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

Beau Glim, Project Manager at North American Die Casting Association (NADCA), visited CIVS on January 25th to provide feedback to students Cristina Cabascango and James Dunlap, as well as CIVS researcher John Moreland, who are putting the finishing touches on the Virtual Die Casting Simulator. CIVS and industry collaborators are finalizing the last stages of development on the 5-year project, which will be distributed to die casters through NADCA to improve the capabilities and understanding of the die casting workforce.

The simulator uses virtual reality to improve operator understanding of what is happening inside die casting machines and melting furnaces. It allows operators to practice common and abnormal situations for operation and maintenance in a controlled environment. This innovative learning tool results in improved casting quality, energy and cost savings, accelerated onboarding of new operators, and improved safety.

One of the highlights of the project is a new learning mode that lets operators see into transparent parts of the machine and view how liquid metal is injected and distributed inside the casting cavity. This feature has been combined with a quiz system that verifies operator understanding of how machine parameters can affect the castings being produced.

NADCA is a trade association advancing the North American die casting industry by providing resources to help members solve technical, operational and business challenges, while raising overall awareness of the industry’s critical role in manufacturing. NADCA educate key audiences on the die casting industry’s importance and benefits as well as technologies to support our membership’s business initiatives – stability, growth, talent acquisition, fair global competition and awareness.

The post Virtual Die Casting Simulator Development Reaches Final Stages appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

CIVS researchers began establishing the groundwork for a new crane training simulator by gathering some initial photo and video reference materials at U. S. Steel Gary Works. This step provides the foundation for a customizable simulator available to SMSVC members, helping to improve overall crane operational efficiency and safety.

For information on the project or how to become an SMSVC member, email us at [email protected]

The post Groundwork Established for New Simulation Project appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

On January 13th, CIVS PhD student Sam Nielson presented a student seminar to discuss tools for literature reviews and reading journal papers. The methods in this seminar included approaches for identifying effective academic journal papers and how to organize active projects. This session built upon valuable research skills that will create efficient and reliable habits for students who engage in research on various CIVS projects. Student seminars take place in the immersive theater every Friday and include industry standards and practice exposure for CIVS students.

“I learned that any scientific paper should have enough easily absorbable information to replicate and hopefully validate its findings. That is the best kind of paper one can write,” said Misbahuddin Husaini Syed, Graduate Research Assistant

The post Research Tools Discussed at Weekly Student Seminar appeared first on Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS).

On January 11th, CIVS students and faculty attended the AIST Midwest Member Chapter Dinner at the Avalon Manor in Merrillville.

The keynote presentation entitled “Hydrogen Steelmaking” was given by Pravin C. Mathur, Ph.D., Executive Director of Metals, Combustion & Energy at Linde, a leading global industrial gases and engineering company. Linde – through a merger with Praxair – is a charter member of the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC), a nationwide industry-led sustainable consortium founded by CIVS in 2016.

“Attending the AIST dinner was a good opportunity to experience how different steel companies around the globe are making efforts to increase energy efficiency and be more environmentally friendly,” said Justin Heffron, Interactive 3D Developer, and Technical Artist at CIVS.

The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) is a non-profit organization with 15,500 members from more than 70 countries. With 30 Technology Committees and 22 Local Members Chapters, AIST represents an incomparable steel industry knowledge and expertise network. One of the priority goals of AIST events like this is to continue to support the rising generation of steel industry professionals.

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