Projects / Programmes
SIMULATION OF INDUSTRIAL SOLIDIFICATION PROCESSES UNDER INFLUENCE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.13.00 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Process engineering |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| T000 |
Technological sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.03 |
Engineering and Technology |
Mechanical engineering |
aluminium, steel, continuous casting of steel, direct chill casting of aluminium alloys, intelligent production, electromagnetic processing, thermomechanics, modelling, simulation, ecological design of production
Researchers (14)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The co-founders of the project are two Slovenian state-of-the-art manufacturers of steel Štore Steel and aluminium products Impol. Both companies are global players, renown on their topmost quality products, used in automotive, aircraft, space, sports and military industries. Their products are mainly exported to demanding foreign markets since they stand out in terms of technical superiority and exceeding of high quality standards. Both companies possess the ability to process special orders and to grant short delivery periods to its customers.
The project contents are tied to our previous applied research projects L2-5387 (2002-2005) - Modelling and optimisation for competitive continuous casting, L2-9508 (2006-2009) - Modelling of microstructure for continuous casting of steel with topmost quality, and L2-3651 (2010-2014) - Simulation and optimisation of casting, rolling and heat treatment processes for competitive production of topmost steels, and the related projects of the 5th, 6th and 7th EU Framework Programmes, USA and China projects. Based on the gained knowledge, we have equipped and automated the direct chill aluminium casting machines and continuous casting of steel machines with advanced computational models.
Both co-funding companies will in the forthcoming years invest into new direct-chill casting and continuous casting technologies. The new technologies will be based on extensive use of electromagnetic (EM) processing. The main aim of this project is to further develop the industrial solidification models by including the modelling of related EM fields and forces. The models will be used for designing the electromagnetic process parameters, particularly the low frequency EM direct chill casting of aluminium alloys, and EM stirring in continuous casting of steel.
In the project, an integrated multiscale, multiphysics, and multiobjective model of the mentioned continuous casting processes, will be established. The model will integrate thermomechanics, thermofluids, thermodynamics, transport phenomena, electromagnetic science and technology, and magnetohydrodynamics. The multiscale coupling will include relations between the process parameters, product macrostructure, microstructure and properties. The multiphysics coupling will include relations between the solution of EM field and temperature, velocity, concentration, deformation and stress fields. The multi-objective features will enable proper setting and optimisation of process parameters as a function of casting productivity, product quality and/or environmental impact.
The macrostructure models will rely on continuum mechanics and coupled equations of mass, energy, momentum, turbulent energy and dissipation rate, and species transfer in the Eulerian system. The microscopic models will be based on the Lagrangian movement of the representative part of the microstructure. The microstructure models will be based on our original point automata method. The EM field will be solved through Maxwell equations. The models will be evaluated in realistic three dimensional settings by using our original meshless methods for which we received numerous awards. The models will allow to predict the effects of EM field on product microsegregation, macrosegregetion, grain structure, surface quality, porosity, deformation and stress fields. The models will be validated based on in-plant measurements and laboratory materials characterisation. The final goal of this modelling is the prediction of the product properties as a function of complex process parameters as well as estimation of the possible design changes of the casting devices.
The expected effects of the project are: improved quality, enhanced process capabilities and productivity in production of a broad spectrum of products. Like in the previous projects, the results will be published in top impact factor journals and presented as keynotes on large international meetings.
Significance for science
Research project belongs to the modern research area of modelling, simulation and optimisation of processes, materials and products, which plays an ever increasing role in international research - because of the impulses for inexpensive products with a large know-how input, for new materials, products and environmentally friendly technologies. The scientific topics of the project coincide with the EU 2020 research priorities: Nanotechnologies, Advanced materials, Advanced manufacturing systems and are extremely important for the Slovenian metal processing industry. The results of the project, which have not interfered with the achieved competitive advantages of the co-funders, have been published in the top-ranking scientific literature. We see the scientific result of the project particularly in the innovative multiphysics and multiscale simulation bundle for prediction of solidification in the presence of electromagnetic fields. The mathematical concept of point automata and a new generation of adaptive meshless numerical methods has been for the first time joined for modelling the thermo-mechanics of casting under the influence of electromagnetic fields. The concept of models of different complexity and their connection with artificial intelligence and automation is entirely new as well. The project leader has in the previous period, in connection with the contents of the research project, edited a special number of the EABE journal on the topics of using meshless methods in industry, a special issue of the Advances in Materials Science and Engineering journal on simulation and optimisation in materials technology as well as two special issues of the journal International Journal of Numerical Methods in Heat & Fluid Flow on application of modern numerical methods in engineering. From the research, an international education was set in motion, carried out in the elite international summer schools.
Significance for the country
Slovenians have a very long and proud tradition in the production of metals and in metal products manufacturing. The first blast furnace under Jelovica was first mentioned in documents from 1422. The industrial production of steel started already in 1869, when the »Kranjska industrijska družba« (»Carniolan Industrial Company«) was founded. The invention of the process for the production of ferromanganese ensured a pioneering role of the company in the history of steel. The company received several awards at the world exhibition in Vienna in 1894. At the same exhibition, Slovenian physicist Jožef Stefan presented the first analytical models of solidification. Because of the tremendous importance of the production of metals, computational modelling of the related process has a key role in Slovenia and abroad. Slovenian metallurgical industry currently yearly exports metal products worth more than billion € to the established foreign markets, directly or indirectly associated with the processes treated in this project. A huge amount of own knowledge is needed in manufacturing and processing of mentioned products. Several 10000 working places in Slovenia depend on these processes. Not only companies that incorporate continuous casting are expected to benefit from the project developments. It is expected that the project results will be applied in many companies in Slovenia, which master critical technologies involving phase changes. Thermomechanical processing appears at some phase in the production of almost every man-made product. The model-supported automation and optimisation of such processes represents a key to modern production and processing of metals, ceramics, polymers, composite materials, electronic components and nanomaterials. In terms of the development of the present research area in Slovenia, we see opportunities not only by strengthening cooperation with domestic manufacturers of steel and aluminium, but also with multinational global steel and aluminium process equipment producers. This collaboration has already started: MUKHOPADHYAY, Ananya, ŠARLER, Božidar, POLO, Andrea, OMETTO, Marco. Integration of automation solutions of casting and rolling for better control of product quality. In: AISTech 2011: Iron & Steel Technology Conference, May 2-5, 2011, Indianapolis, USA. Warrendale: Association for Iron and Steel Technology, cop. 2011, vol. 2, pp. 1007-1020. [COBISS.SI-ID 2423547] In parallel, we started to offer our knowledge to large global steel producing companies. The mentioned activities, based on the progress, abtained during present project, have started in 2016: ŠARLER, Božidar, DOBRAVEC, Tadej, VERTNIK, Robert, MAVRIČ, Boštjan. Computer code for calculation of temperature and microstructure field in continuous casting of steel in Xiwang Special Steel Company Limited: XiwangSSCSim2017. Ljubljana: IMT, 2017. 1 optical disk (CD-ROM). [COBISS.SI-ID 513015921]
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2014,
2015,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2014,
2015,
final report
