Institution news
Ahead of the 2019 conference we caught up with Louise Wright, who will be contributing to this year’s agenda with her presentation “Digital Twins at a National Metrology Institute”, to find out more about the challenges that her area of engineering is facing and what the future holds for those currently using simulation technology in their work.
Q: Could you briefly explain your role, involvement and experience with regards to this conference?
Louise Wright (LW): My job title is science area leader for modelling at the National Physical Laboratory. NPL is the UK’s National Measurement Institute, and we are responsible for realizing and disseminating the SI base units as well as carrying out collaborative R&D projects that involve measurement. My job therefore involves ensuring that we have the modelling skills and associated infrastructure to support this mission.
I’ve been working with finite element analysis and similar methods for over 20 years across a wide range of applications, including heat flow, electromagnetics, mass transport, and stress analysis. I’m also really interested in how simulation can be linked with other methods for optimisation and uncertainty analysis to give us a better understanding of how the things we make work (or don’t!)
Q: What are the main challenges facing the industry at the moment and what are the most common issues you hear from colleagues?
LW: This is difficult for me to answer as I don’t really work in an industry, but the two main difficulties I hear of are obtaining the right input properties, particularly for material properties, and understanding how a lack of knowledge (or any form of uncertainty) affects the simulation results. Typically, simulation results are a snapshot of a single example of an object that doesn’t necessarily reflect the variations in manufacturing that will occur in the real world. Adapting to that way of thinking is a big challenge, but if you understand the variability of results it enables you to make better decisions.
Q: What key topics are you excited to speak about?
LW: I’m excited to discuss digital twins, because I think a lot of engineers are hearing the phrase used for things they’re already doing and would like to know what’s so special about them. I’m also excited to be talking about the Kibble balance, because it’s a device invented and developed in the UK that has enabled the redefinition of the SI base units in terms of fundamental constants of the universe, a really exciting development for measurement science (metrology) worldwide.
Q: Who else are you most interested in hearing from on the programme, and why?
LW: I’m looking forward to hearing Igor Strashny of Caterpillar Global Mining talk about modelling human behaviour because it’s so far from the work that I do that I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.
Q: What is your top tip for engineers working in similar roles to your own?
LW: When we have new starters in our group, I tell them to always ask questions if you don’t understand what somebody is talking about. I have a wide-ranging role and am constantly having to learn about new areas of science, and I find that having to answer daft questions from me helps other people better understand their own work.
Q: Why is it important for engineers to join this seminar?
LW: Simulation can bring significant benefits to a huge range of organisations. It can support more innovative designs that reduce material costs through optimisation. It can help reduce energy costs by identifying more efficient ways to run processes. It can reduce waste by improving product reliability. It’s not a cure all, its results do need to be critically assessed, and it can’t replace engineering knowledge, but it can help you get more information to support your decisions.
Q: What developments are you most interested in for the future and why?
LW: I’m interested in the potential of the combination of multi-scale materials models and 3D printing to improve our ability to design microstructures that give high strength and reduced mass. I think that as we understand the printing process more, we will move from trying to print with materials that we already understand to printing with materials designed to have useful properties when printed, and then we’ll see the full strength of the technology. I’ll be interested to see how simulation tools will move to match that change.
Simulation and Modelling 2019, takes place on 17-18 September 2019, Birmingham. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to discuss the latest developments being made with computer aided and virtual engineering. Address key challenges such as:
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ensuring model validity, assessing uncertainty, multiphysics models, data analysis and democratisation of simulation.
- Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with colleagues and peers across multiple sectors, with presentations including those from engineers at Rolls Royce, Airbus, Amazon Web Services, Wood Group, Caterpillar Global Mining, EDF-Energy, Jaguar Land Rover, and AMRC with Boeing.
- Early Bird discount ends 26 July 2019; for full details and to book your place, please visit www.imeche.org/simmod2019.