Steel Plate Rolling for Engineering Students @ Liverpool University

A short video has been added describing how an interactive plate rolling simulation, freely available at steeluniversity.org, was used with 2nd year Engineering undergraduates at the University of Liverpool.

The students, working in groups, had to compete to supply plates for three sections of an offshore wind turbine tower at the correct specification and at the lowest possible cost. From the customer's specification, the students had to:

• calculate the required plate sizes for each section of the tower
• select an appropriate steel grade (composition) and rolling schedule to achieve the required mechanical properties
• work out the suitable slab sizes, bearing in mind that some end and edge trims must be made after rolling
• roll the plates using the interactive controls within the simulation

At the end of each run, the students were presented with test-house and production reports, stating whether the required mechanical properties were met, and also the size, number and cost of saleable plates.

Each result was recorded on the database, allowing the module tutors to monitor the progress of each group.