The Long Night of the Sciences in Berlin is an annual event in Germany where scientific institutions hold lectures and demonstrations in order to disseminate their research work to the general public. The event covers all aspects of sciences i.e from natural sciences to social sciences.
The Weierstrass Institute (WIAS) actively participates in this event and this year, Najib Alia (WP6) and Manuel Arenas (WP7) were part of the event. We demonstrated how applied mathematics can be used to solve industrial problems with a booth titled “Revealing the secrets of industrial processes with Math”.
We used specific examples from our work within the MIMESIS project. I, Manuel Arenas, described the process of flame cutting of steel plates and how the approach to modelling and numerical simulation works. For me, Najib Alia, I explained to the people what is ladle stirring and how we can optimize it with mathematical modeling. Thanks to a high-resolution touch-screen on the booth, I could show to the visitors how ladle stirring of liquid steel looks like. They were able to play around with the geometry of the numerical model. Some pupils enjoyed doing their own simulation of the ladle stirring.
We also explained the purpose of the MIMESIS project and its partners. Here, we highlighted the involvement of the EU in the research and collaboration between academia and industry.
We were glad that many people came to the stand and showed their interest in learning about how mathematics can be used to understand more about flame cutting. I found it interesting that people from different ages (from kids with their parents to retired researchers) and various nationalities came to the WIAS booth. It was a good opportunity to communicate research to the general public. I explained my research work in English, Spanish and Italian (I am still improving my German 🙂 ).
Manuel Arenas and Najib Alia
