The university’s physics-based, data-driven, next-generation Integrated Virtual Blast Furnace (IVBF) mirrors a blast furnace, enabling an unprecedented interior view and providing an example of how manufacturing is embracing digital twin technology. Touted for its transformative impact on quality, agility, and competitiveness, digital twin technology is also helping to bridge the gap between a shrinking skilled workforce and the increasing complexity of modern manufacturing processes.
“With the IVBF, we can not only mimic the structure of a blast furnace, but we can mimic the physics, see the flow, know what the temperature is at any location inside the furnace,” said Professor Chenn Zhou, director of the Purdue University Northwest (PNW) Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS), which spearheads the IVBF project. “Using it for design, optimization, troubleshooting, scaling up of new technologies, and real-time monitoring, we can do more efficient furnace operation and more effective worker training to save money and reduce downtime.”
With U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding, the CIVS team is using the IVBF to find methods to improve steelmaking efficiency and develop a virtual training model to provide what they call “critically needed workforce development within the steel industry.”
The IVBF gives operators and engineers skills needed to implement new technology and provides a “window” to look inside a space that, because of its size and temperatures (which can hit nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit), poses enormous hurdles.