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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:icalendar-ruby
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
X-WR-CALNAME:Final Doctoral Defense for Yeshwanth Reddy Mekala
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Central Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260716T235130Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_53303673474122
DTSTART:20260710T143000Z
DTEND:20260710T163000Z
DESCRIPTION:Yeshwanth Mekala\, a doctoral candidate in materials science an
 d engineering\, will defend their dissertation titled “Dynamic Heat Flow
 \, Current Distribution\, and Wear Estimation in DC Electric Arc Furnace B
 ottom Anodes Using Fiber Optic Sensing and Thermal Modeling.” Their advi
 sor\, Dr. Ronald O’Malley is a professor in materials science and engine
 ering. The dissertation abstract is provided below.\n\nDirect Current Elec
 tric Arc Furnaces (DC-EAFs) represent a critical and growing component of 
 sustainable steel production\; however\, safe and efficient operation depe
 nds on reliable thermal monitoring of two highly vulnerable components —
  the water-cooled upper shell and the pin-type bottom anode — for which 
 conventional thermocouple-based monitoring systems provide insufficient sp
 atial resolution and are susceptible to electromagnetic interference from 
 high-current arcing. This dissertation presents a systematic research prog
 ram developing\, validating\, and industrially deploying distributed fiber
 -optic sensing technologies for real-time thermal monitoring of both compo
 nents\, culminating in a physics-based inverse modeling framework for pred
 ictive bottom anode wear estimation.\nFor upper shell monitoring\, Rayleig
 h backscattering Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) and Brillou
 in Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems were deployed on a 150-to
 n DC EAF at Big River Steel\, Osceola\, Arkansas. Rayleigh OFDR achieved a
  spatial resolution of 2.3 mm at 1 Hz\, with distributed temperature data 
 correlating clearly with furnace operational events including burner activ
 ation and scrap charging. Brillouin DTS demonstrated complementary advanta
 ges of superior vibration immunity and long sensing range\, with laborator
 y calibration yielding a thermal sensitivity of 1.19 MHz/°C and R² = 0.9
 988\, and a 36-hour industrial trial confirming a data missing rate below 
 1%.\nFor bottom anode monitoring\, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) and Rayleigh 
 backscattering sensors were deployed across multiple anode pins in 150-ton
  and 165-ton DC EAF campaigns. FBG sensors survived complete campaigns of 
 up to 922 hours\, providing quasi-distributed temperature measurements tha
 t closely agreed with thermocouple reference data and resolved individual 
 tap-to-tap heat cycles and progressive temperature increases associated wi
 th anode wear. Analysis of simultaneous FBG data from 48 instrumented pins
  revealed Joule heating signatures of 1.1–2.2°C superimposed on the con
 ductive baseline\, with central pins carrying approximately 40–60% highe
 r current density than outer pins during slag foaming — providing the fi
 rst in-situ experimental validation of preferential current channeling pat
 terns previously predicted only by electromagnetic simulation.\nA transien
 t one-dimensional finite-difference heat transfer model incorporating temp
 erature-dependent material properties and adaptive boundary conditions was
  developed and validated against the industrial FBG dataset\, achieving a 
 mean RMSE of 8.2°C and mean R² = 0.984 across all sensor positions. An i
 nverse modeling framework using proportional feedback control estimated pr
 ogressive anode pin wear from 1200 mm to approximately 650 mm over a 1050-
 hour campaign\, consistent with post-campaign industrial observations. Par
 ametric sensitivity analysis identified the hot-end boundary temperature a
 s the dominant source of model uncertainty\, establishing a clear directio
 n for future improvement.\nTogether\, the sensing and modeling frameworks 
 developed in this dissertation advance DC-EAF thermal monitoring from a sp
 arse\, reactive capability to a distributed\, predictive one\, providing t
 he essential components of a digital twin for bottom anode systems and est
 ablishing a foundation for intelligent\, safety-aware process control in n
 ext-generation steelmaking operations.
GEO:37.956283;-91.77409
LOCATION:Straumanis-James Hall\, 201
SUMMARY:Final Doctoral Defense for Yeshwanth Reddy Mekala
URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.mst.edu/event/final-doctoral-defense-for-yes
 hwanth-reddy-mekala
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