Jianlei Liu

Scientists and engineers involved in the design of complex system solutions use computational Workflows and co-simulations to explore, model, and evaluate the behavior of these system solutions. With the help of integration tools, scientists and engineers can avoid the implementation of additional interfaces when coupling different executables and running them as an overall system solution, which hinders their original research or engineering goals. Therefore, a novel framework named PROcess Orchestration Framework (PROOF) for streamlining the creation and automation of computational workflows and co-simulations is introduced in this article. It uses state-of-the-art technologies for automation (e.g., container virtualization) and coordination (e.g., distributed message-oriented middleware). It supports task parallelism and recoverability capabilities by utilizing container orchestration on a distributed computing cluster. PROOF uses a descriptive approach to abstractly create workflows with the help of a scalable and extendable user interface.

Utilisation of industrial solid wastes to prepare products with high added value is an effective way that could relieve environmental pollution and create huge economic benefits. In this work, steel slag based permeable brick (SSPB) was successfully prepared by liquid phase sintering. The BSE‐EDS results indicate that the microstructure of the SSPB becomes dense because of the formation of a small amount of glass‐liquid phase (Na‐K‐Ca‐Fe‐Si‐O glass system). The effect of sintering temperature on various properties of the SSPB was systematically studied. It is found that as the sintering temperature increases from 1210 to 1300°C, the permeability deceases gradually, as well as the apparent porosity, water retention and water absorption. In contrast, the bulk density and mechanical strengths show gradually increasing trends. Most important of all, the SSPB sintered at 1270°C for 1 hour shows an excellent permeability (5.70 × 10 ⁻² cm/s) and high mechanical strengths (compressive strength, 36.6 MPa; bending strength, 6.8 MPa). The prepared SSPB is not only likely to be a new type of permeable brick for sidewalk construction, but also relieve greatly environmental pollution from steel slag because of the high utilisation rate of steel slag (as high as 90%).