Each November since 2005, steeluniversity has organised steelChallenge using one of the steelmaking simulations available on the website. Participants in steelChallenge compete to produce a new grade of steel specially designed for the event. Each team may make an unlimited number of attempts to achieve the given specification at lowest total cost. steelChallenge runs for a 24-hour period and attracts people from all over the world. Winners in the industry and student categories of this regional championship are invited to travel to the world championships hosted by World Steel Association.
Contents
Overview
The 10th edition of steelChallenge will take place in two rounds. The first round of the Regional Championship will take place online over a 24 hour period starting 12.00 GMT on 20 January 2016. The second round, the World Championships, will take place in London, United Kingdom, on 11 April 2016. In an exciting development, the World Championship award ceremony will take place in the presence of company leaders from the world steel industry.
The Challenge
steelChallenge-10 will utilise steeluniversity's Electric Arc Furnace steelmaking simulation. Competitors are tasked to produce a grade of steel meeting technical requirements at the lowest total cost. The simulation will use a grade of steel specifically design for steelChallenge-10.
Competitors may undertake unlimited ‘runs’ of the simulation during the 24-hour competition period. A ‘run’ is concluded when the simulation has completed the set time, the result has been registered in the competition database, and the competitor has received a confirmation of successful completion.
The 3 best ‘runs’ of each competitor will be averaged to determine their score and placement in the Regional Championship. Therefore, to qualify as Regional Champion, at least 3 ‘runs’ must be successfully completed.
steelChallenge-9
The Regional Championship took place online for a 24-hour period on 17 December 2014. The 9th edition of steelChallenge attracted 1,566 teams and 1,922 participants representing 34 countries. There were 83,000 attempts with the basic oxygen steelmaking simulation, an increment of 73% compared to last year. 811 teams successfully completed at least one run of the simulation and 10,500 successful runs were completed. The world championship of the 9th steelChallenge took place in Brussels, Belgium on 11 February 2015. The eight teams of regional champions from the first round competed for the global title in the Industry and Student categories. The task was to produce high strength structural steel for construction at the lowest total cost using the basic oxygen steelmaking simulation available on steeluniversity.org. In this opportunity Yongping Wei and Yongxu Wang from Chongqing University of Science and Technology had the best result in the Student category. In the Industry category the best result was submitted by Ye Wang from Baosteel Group Corporation. CEOs from several countries witnessed the competition, and Dr Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of worldsteel, and Chairman and CEO, Voestalpine, presented the trophies and certificates to the champions.
steelChallenge-8
The regional championship took place online for a 24-hour period on 12 November 2013. This Challenge attracted 2,024 teams representing 41 different countries, an increment of 76% compared to last Challenge. More than 48,000 attempts were made and 1,244 teams successfully completed the task. The lowest cost achieved at the regional championship was $62.16/tonne. The Grand Final of the steelChallenge took place on 19 Feb 2014 at the Steigenberger Grandhotel, Brussels. The contestants were the Regional Champions of North America, Latin America, Europe-CIS, East Asia-Oceania and Middle East- India-Africa. At the end of the highly charged and intense contest, the team consisting Kausik Tamuli and Animesh Kumar Singh from Tata Steel Ltd. India had the best result in the 'Industry' category. In the 'Student' category the best result was submitted by the team consisting Ezio Agustín Casalini and Francisco Brañas of Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina. The two teams were declared World Champions in their respective categories. The contest was watched by the steel industry leaders with great interest. At the end of the contest the Regional Champions received certificates and the World Champions in the Industry and Student categories were awarded trophies, cash prizes and certificates by Mr Joon-yang Chung, Chairman of worldsteel and CEO and Chairman, POSCO.
Registration
Each competitor must register for steelChallenge on the steeluniversity.org. To complete the registration, each individual must provide their name, organisation, address, email and telephone number. Each individual must also indicate whether they are participating in the student or industry category. There is no fee for students category to compete in steelChallenge, but for the industry category there is a fee.
Student category
The student category is for individuals who are enrolled in studies at an accredited academic institution at the time of the registration period, up to the time of the Regional Championship. Enrolment may be full-time or part-time.
Industry category
The industry category is for individuals in steel companies and the steel industry supply chain having less than 5 years of experience. The supply chain includes companies who supply the steel industry, who manufacture steel, or are customers of the steel industry. Individuals who may be both working in the steel industry and a student shall register in the industry category.
Mode
The Regional Championship takes place online via steeluniversity’s website at www.steeluniversity.org. Upon conclusion of the Regional Championship, steeluniversity will audit the results to validate successful runs of the simulation.
Regions
The first round of challenge is divided in regions, which have varied in time. The current regions are:
World Championship
This final round of the competition use one of the steeluniversity simulations during a 2-hour period with all regionals champions in the same room. The challenge for this round of competition produce the single best result for the simulation.