Metals Process Simulation Lab

A state of the art computational facility, located in 345 Mechanical Engineering Building, is dedicated to the modeling and simulation of metals processes using advanced, and computationally demanding software tools. Software includes both commercial packages, such as ANSYS, ABAQUS, CFX, FLUENT, and in-house simulation programs for modeling continuous casting, including CON1D, CON2D, and MIX1D. The laboratory currently houses about 20 computer workstations and peripherals, including fast networking with the supercomputers at NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois).

This facility is used by graduate students and other researchers supported by the Continuous Casting Consortium, National Science Foundation, Ingot Metallurgy Forum, DOE, and other research sponsors. Combined with the expertise of our research group, it allows the simulation of fluid flow, heat transfer, and stress generation of complex processes using finite-element and finite-difference algorithms which incorporate three dimensional and transient behavior. Processes currently being investigated include the continuous casting of steel, ingot casting, and continuous steelmaking. Together with experimental results and industrial plant trials, these results are interpreted to improve fundamental understanding of process phenomena and to solve practical problems of importance to industry.

Director

• Brian G. Thomas