Steel Manufacturing Simulation                    and Visualization Consortium

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August 23, 2018 by John Moreland

SMSVC Technology Roadmap Stands Out from the Cloud

Alt text
Hammond, Indiana

The collaborative efforts of more than 120 individual contributors, including members of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST), the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC), and CIVS, culminated in the August 22, 2018 official release and dissemination of the AMTech Program–commissioned report: Technology Roadmap for Advanced Simulation and Visualization for Steel Optimization.

Initiated in 2013, the AMTech competitive grants program focused on establishing new or strengthening existing industry-driven consortia addressing challenges that limit the growth of advanced manufacturing in the U.S. A 2014 AMTech Planning Grant was instrumental in the formation and launch of the SMSVC in January 2016 and in the development of the Technology Roadmap—an instrument designed to be both an informative guide to applications of simulation and visualization technologies within the steel industry and an encouragement to future research and development efforts.

Excerpts from the Final Technical Report to the NIST (2018) repeat the original objectives, and sum up the project results, as follows:

  • The ultimate target of this project is to ensure a leadership role of the U.S. steel manufacturing in the global market by developing innovative technical solutions using advanced simulation and visualization technologies through an industrial-led consortium for 1) increasing energy efficiency and lowering costs in existing processes throughout the steel manufacturing value chain; 2) evaluating the energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness of new and long-term processes; 3) narrowing the skills gap through improved workforce training; and 4) disseminating advanced technologies throughout the U.S. steel industry including small and medium-sized companies.

  • The objectives are:
    1) To establish a new industry-led steel manufacturing consortium that will focus on supporting the development of advanced simulation and visualization technologies to address major technological issues and related barriers that inhibit the growth of advanced manufacturing in the steel industry.
    2) To develop an industry-led steel manufacturing Technology Roadmap that will identify and prioritize research projects for the application of simulation and visualization that will advance steel manufacturing competitiveness across the steel industry value chain.

  • Both objectives have been accomplished, and both “mechanisms of influence” continue to perform the following: (1) advance American steel manufacturing competitiveness and positively affect operations and activities (safety, energy efficiency, product quality, process optimization, productivity, etc.); (2) promote the benefits and use of advanced technologies—such as modeling, simulation, and visualization—in steelmaking; and (3) prioritize research projects for ongoing improvement and sustainability of manufacturing enterprises across and throughout the steel value chain.

  • Through established infrastructure, the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium continues to delineate and perform collaborative research, the results of which have already yielded significant economic/operational benefits to steelmakers (many of which are chronicled in the Technology Roadmap), and through publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentation at industry conferences continue to guide investigations into materials and process advancement. For steelmakers and associated manufacturers/suppliers both within and beyond the Consortium, the now-available Technology Roadmap can serve as a guide to current, actual benefits and uses of advanced technology in steelmaking, and to future, exploratory possible benefits and uses—and as an incentive to participation in research and development efforts.

  • To download a copy of the Technology Roadmap, click on the icon (graphic) at page top.

Filed Under: Featured News, Main Slider, News

April 18, 2016 by John Moreland

New! Online Interactive Steel Manufacturing Process

Filed Under: Main Slider

April 6, 2016 by John Moreland

CIVS Students Win Purdue Northwest Research Awards

Five CIVS students won awards at Purdue Northwesta��s 2016 Student Research Day.

First Place a�� Oral Presentation
a�?Design of a Bottom-Blow Basic-Oxygen Furnacea�? by Yuchao Chen & Huinan Shao

Second Place a�� Oral Presentation
a�?Design of a Ball Bearing Replacement Simulator for Wind Turbinea�? by Zichao Zhou, Zhiheng Huang, and Yu Du

Filed Under: Main Slider, News

April 1, 2016 by John Moreland

Purdue Calumet CIVS students contribute to steel-making understanding tool

Article taken from the Purdue University Calumet website, published December 15, 2015. [Opens in New Window]

Three recent Purdue University Calumet engineering students collaborated with the university’s Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) in developing an innovative tool that enables greater worldwide understanding of the steelmaking process.

For their senior design and graduate research project, the now graduated students worked with AIST staff members and CIVS faculty and staff to create an online, interactive resource. Called the Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel Wheel, it includes three-dimensional imagery and videos plus descriptive text on each part of the Wheel:http://apps.aist.org/SteelWheel/index.html.

By starting in the middle of the wheel, viewers are introduced interactively to the fundamental ingredients used in the ironmaking process to produce elemental iron. Those ingredients are iron, carbon and calcium in the form of iron ore, coke and lime, respectively. By clicking onto other aspects of the wheel, users can track additional steps in the steelmaking process.

Seeing is believing

According to a recent AIST news release, AIST General Manager-Technology Services Brian Bliss said, “The Wheel shows the most common processes in concentric circles so the viewer can visualize the different production routes. The online steel Wheel has added descriptive text and three-dimensional imagery to each of the processes on the Wheel, giving the viewer a richer experience in understanding how steel is made.”

By applying engineering principles and lessons in helping develop the Wheel, the students satisfied their degree requirement. The Colorado School of Mines’ Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center joined AIST as a project collaborator.

Purdue Calumet Professor of Mechanical Engineering and CIVS Director Chenn Zhou referred to the project as another demonstration of how Purdue Calumet students, faculty and staff are using CIVS to assist and benefit business and industry.

Students’ collaboration produces experience

“Education is one of the major missions of CIVS,” Zhou said. “We have been able to collaborate with more than 80 faculty and staff, as well as provide real world project experiences to 800+ Purdue Calumet students since 2009.”

As an interdisciplinary applied research center, the campus-based CIVS combines advanced simulation techniques with 3D visualization technologies to provide innovative solutions in response to industrial and other problems and challenges.

Through close partnerships with more than 90 external organizations, CIVS has enabled projects that have produced substantial educational and economic impacts in fact, more than $38 million in savings by the external partners.

Steel manufacturing competitiveness

Recently, CIVS has worked with the steel industry to establish the Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium to improve the competitiveness of steel manufacturing across its value chain.

AIST officials refer to the Wheel as a one-of-a-kind experience that allows individuals to click onto each phase of steelmaking to gain a deeper understanding of the process through videos, photos and detailed explanation of functions, equipment and materials used.

AIST identifies its organization as a non-profit technical association of 17,500 members from more than 70 countries, with a mission to advance the technical development, production, processing and application of iron and steel.

Filed Under: Main Slider, News

January 20, 2016 by John Moreland

Research at Purdue Calumeta��s CIVS Earns National Award

Article taken from the Purdue University Calumet website, published January 19, 2016.

A technical paper written by researchers of Purdue University Calumeta��s Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) and AK Steel about a way to improve steel production based on a concept developed at the steel companya��s Dearborn, Mich. Works has been selected to receive a national award this spring.

The paper, titled a�?Investigation of Co-Injection of Natural Gas and Pulverized Coal in a Blast Furnace,a�? will receive the Association for Iron and Steel Technologya��s (AIST) 2016 Josef S. Kapitan Award-Ironmaking, May 16 at the AIST conference in Pittsburgh, Pa.

AK Steel Technical Manager, Ironmaking Stuart Street initiated the collaborative project to utilize the unique skill set available at the Purdue Calumet CIVS research facility, as well as to support further advances of industry-university research.

Multi-faceted research team

The research team includes lead writer and Michigan City resident Tyamo Okosun, a Purdue Calumet alumnus, CIVS research assistant and Ph.D. student at Purduea��s West Lafayette campus. Other team members are Street of AK Steel, former students Yan Chen and Jiaqi Zhao, and Purdue Calumet faculty/staff members Chenn Zhou, CIVS director, and Bin Wu, CIVS research engineer.

The industry-funded project utilized the CIVS for computational fluid dynamics modeling and analysis. The researchers conducted a parametric study of blast furnace operation, exploring ways to increase performance and efficiency. More specifically, they explored the use of natural gas as the carrier fuel for pulverized coal injection (PCI). PCI has been utilized in blast furnaces for decades as a substitute for reducing undesirable coke.

Importance of natural gas utilization

a�?Ultimately, the goal is to improve the fuel replacement ratio by replacing coke with coal and natural gas,a�? Okosun said. a�?The less coke used, the cleaner the gases.a�?

As expressed in their paper, the researchers determined that natural gas utilization for pulverized coal injection could improve total burnout from 77 percent to 87 percent. Their research also uncovered the likely cause of wear and ablation in the configuration of blast furnaces. Finally, they discovered that natural gas as the PCI carrier also potentially could improve blast furnace productivity by some 2.5 percent.

a�?Wonderful learning experiencea��

a�?This project has been a wonderful learning experience, combining industrial know-how and direct collaboration with our partners. I have learned so much from our industrial advisor, Dr. Street,a�? Okosun said. a�?The topic of this research will be carried on through the newly established Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium.a�?

Purdue Calumeta��s CIVS is an interdisciplinary research facility that combines advanced simulation techniques with 3-dimensional visualization technologies to provide innovative solutions in response to industrial and research challenges.

Filed Under: Main Slider, News

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Contact Us

Dr. Chenn Zhou, Director
Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation

Address:
Powers Building, Room 123
2200 169th Street
Hammond, IN 46323-2094

Phone:
1-219-989-2765

E-mail:
steelconsortium@pnw.edu

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Featured Links

  • Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS)
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Address: 2200 169th Street Hammond, IN 46323
Phone: 1-219-989-2765
E-mail: steelconsortium@pnw.edu

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