13–15 Oct 2026
Hotel Caesius Terme & SPA Resort - Bardolino - Verona
Europe/Rome timezone

A Combined Physics-Based and Artificial Intelligence Through-Process Modelling of Steel Production Path

14 Oct 2026, 16:10
20m
Lilium+Iris room (Hotel Caesius Thermae & Spa Resort)

Lilium+Iris room

Hotel Caesius Thermae & Spa Resort

Via Peschiera, 3, 37011 Bardolino VR

Speaker

Božidar Šarler (University of Ljubljana and Institute of Metals and Technology)

Description

A part of the digitalisation efforts in the steel industry concerns the numerical optimisation of the steel production chain to increase quality, productivity, and sustainable production. We present the multiscale computational modelling of a typical steel processing route, comprising continuous casting, controlled cooling, annealing, reheating, reverse and continuous hot rolling, cooling bed, and heat treatment. The modelling concept is based on horizontal coupling, in which simulation codes for different processing or product use steps are connected to their associated multiscale structures and material properties, and on vertical coupling, in which simulation codes at multiple length scales are used to describe product properties. The scales we cope with range from the grain size to several tenths of a meter. The microstructure is formulated using the phase-field method, the mesostructure using the cellular automaton method, and the macroscopic electromagnetic, fluid mechanics, and solid mechanics fields using continuum mechanics. We present a solution framework for describing the related multiscale and multiphysics thermomechanical problems based on a space-time adaptive meshless solution procedure for the microscopic and macroscopic scales, and on the point automata concept for the mesoscopic scale. The phenomena addressed by this meshless technique range from large-eddy simulation of continuous casting to elastoplastic deformation of products on the cooling bed. Artificial intelligence is used to replace physics-based models when sufficient data are available (e.g., genetic programming) and for optimisation (e.g., evolutionary computing). The validation of some of the models and concepts based on plant and laboratory measurements is shown.

Speaker Company/University University of Ljubljana

Authors

Božidar Šarler (University of Ljubljana and Institute of Metals and Technology) Dr Izaz Ali Dr Tadej Dobravec (University of Ljubljana) Dr Umut Hanoglu (University of Ljubljana) Dr Miha Kovačič (Štore Steel and University of Ljubljana) Dr Qingguo Liu (University of Ljubljana) Dr Boštjan Mavrič (University of Ljubljana) Dr Katarina Mramor (University of Ljubljana) Dr Robert Vertnik (Štore Steel and University of Ljubljana) Dr Gašper Vuga (University of Ljubljana)

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