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Process Flow and Performance the Focus in Numerical Analysis

Announcement posted by Coffey International Ltd 16 Jun 2011

Coffey Mining welcomes Steve Weller


Process Flow and Performance the Focus in Numerical Analysis

Steve Weller, formerly a long-term senior engineer for Abaqus software in Dassault Systmes, has traded Melbourne’s famous cafes and seasonal climate for Coffey Mining and sunshine in West Perth. His unique experience in customisation, process automation and scripting with the leading Finite Element Analysis package Abaqus FEA now benefits Coffey Mining’s growing numerical modelling and geotechnical portfolio.

Weller joins Coffey Mining as Senior Engineer, Numerical Modelling working closely with Dr. Stephen Arndt, Coffey Mining’s Principal for the Numerical Simulation Team.

Outlining the drivers for this growing area of the industry, Dr Arndt explains, “Cost, time and performance are always the key elements in requests for analysis and simulation proposals, following the expanding acceptance in the industry for non-linear methods.”

“Numerical tools providing robust constitutive behaviours for inelastic, strain softening and dilating materials are often the only analysis alternative for mines that already operate in high stress conditions and wish to go deeper, such as many of those in Western Australia. Adding the complexity of 3D modelling which enables us to correctly capture the stress path in these mining environments requires us to invest more time into the modelling process. The benefits are better calibration, more detailed results and a high forecasting confidence.”

To deliver short project turnover times and efficient modelling solutions to the industry, Coffey Mining focuses on integrating the Abaqus Finite Element software with in-house scripting and customisation – areas were Weller’s expertise will prove invaluable. Some analysis types, such as those for shaft design or ground support, have an established workflow that benefits from process automation, offering a competitive approach to other software tools. Other analyses, such as 3D mine-scale life-of-mine scenarios, often lead to very large models with detailed geometry, faults and structures on different scales. Here, scripting is an invaluable tool for handling the sheer size and complexity of the data sets, which can involve tens of millions of variables.

Successful numerical simulation requires considerable computing power and speed. Coffey Mining’s parallel compute cluster uses the fastest multi-core CPUs, providing a step change in technology.

“Just a few years ago we needed a rack full of servers with 4kW of power consumption to achieve this level of performance. Now we can fit more compute power into the bottom drawer of your filing cabinet and plug it into a standard wall outlet” explains Dr. Arndt, who has seen the evolution of computer power in his career involving high performance computing and Finite Element Analysis over more than 15 years.

Coffey Mining offers the full range of state-of-the-art modelling solutions from integrating individual analysis tasks in any level of scope or study, to large three-dimensional mine scale models incorporating pore water pressure and fault movement as might be required for pit-underground interaction or mass mining methods.

Dr. Stephan Arndt has a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Technical University Berlin, Germany, and holds a PhD in Fracture Mechanics. He has worked on mine planning simulations in consulting work and feasibility studies for some of the largest mining companies and projects worldwide. He co-founded Beck Arndt Engineering in 2005, a consulting company that specialised in mine planning and mining engineering for extreme environments, where he was a Director and Principal Mechanical Engineer. He has 15 years experience using Abaqus software and regularly teaches Nonlinear Finite Element Methods at the University of Western Australia.

Steve Weller has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tasmania. He has over 10 years experience using Abaqus finite element software. He has worked on a range of challenging consulting and research projects using Abaqus, including sub-sea pipeline stability, buckling and spanning simulations. He has used his knowledge of Abaqus scripting and GUI customisation to streamline and automate advanced simulation workflows, delivering substantial improvements in efficiency and usability. Most recently he has been the key technical point of contact for Abaqus users Australia-wide, across all industries, including automotive, mining, oil and gas and aerospace.