Engineering performance and sustainability metrics to drive optimisation of steel in low carbon rail transport networks

Future sustainability in the transportation sector will require a shift from personal transport toward public transport. Key in this drive will be a sustainable rail system built on a sustainable rail infrastructure.
Within the current rail infrastructure, steel accounts for around 43% of the embedded carbon but, on the positive side, steel is 100% recyclable. This project aims to scientifically investigate the role of steel within the rail infrastructure from both an engineering, and techno-economic perspective.
For years the ties between engineering functions and business functions, within both business and academia, have been very distinct. This project aims to blur the lines between these disciplines by encompassing both a real experimental engineering perspective, and a 'true to life' business application/model with respect to rail infrastructure.
From an engineering viewpoint, the project will leverage UKRRIN, the UK Rail Research Innovation Network of which University of Sheffield and British Steel are founding members. There is an extensive state-of-the-art equipment set located at both British Steel and University of Sheffield to address sustainability of steel infrastructure components through accelerated life cycle assessments and real testing. This work will be carried out both at Sheffield's Faculty of Engineering and British Steel R&D.
From a techno-economic viewpoint, the project will investigate:
- A 'cost function' for carbon in steel railway components as a weighted combination of all the factors influencing productive life, performance, and the costs
- Linked to the above, exploration of sensitivity to where the system boundary is defined
- Optimisation- are there some non-obvious ways to maximise outcomes?
-Alternative business models for infrastructure - lease or own?
This work will be carried out at Sheffield's Management School, and with British Steel's Commercial and Marketing Teams.
The link between the engineering and commercial functions of business is currently too wide. This project has the potential to challenge the separation of these disciplines and produce a well-rounded graduate for which industry is craving.

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Metallic Systems was established to address the metallurgical skills
gap, highlighted in several reports [1-3] as a threat to the competitiveness of UK industry, by training non-materials
graduates from chemistry, physics and engineering in a multidisciplinary environment. Although we will have supplied ~140
highly capable metallurgical scientists and engineers into industry and academia by the end of our existing programme,
there remains a demonstrable need for doctoral-level training to continue and evolve to meet future industry needs. We
therefore propose to train a further 14 UK based PhD and EngD students per cohort as well as 5 Irish students per
cohort through I-Form.

Manufacturing contributes over 10% of UK GVA with the metals sector contributing 12% of this (£10.7BN [4,5]) and
employing ~230,000 people directly and 750,000 indirectly. It is estimated that ~2300 graduates are required annually to
meet present and future growth [5]. A sizeable portion of these graduates will require metallurgical expertise and current
numbers fall far short. From UK-wide HESA data, we estimate there are ~330 home UG/PGT qualifiers in materials and
~35 home doctoral graduates in metallurgy annually, including existing AMSCDT graduates, so it is unsurprising that
industry continues to report difficulties in recruiting staff with the required specialist metallurgical knowledge and
professional competencies.

As well as addressing this shortfall, the CDT will also impact directly on the companies with which it collaborates, on the
wider high value manufacturing sector and on the UK economy as a whole, as follows:

1. Collaborating companies, across a wide range of businesses in the supply chain including SMEs and research
organisations will benefit directly from the CDT through:

- Targeted projects in direct support of their business and its future development and competitiveness.
- Access to the expertise and facilities of the host institutions.
- Involvement in the training of the next generation of potential employees with advanced technical and leadership skills
who can add value to their organisations.

2. The UK High-Value Manufacturing Community will benefit as the CDT will:

- Develop the underpinning science and advanced-level knowledge base required by future high technology areas, where
there is high expectation of gross added value.
- Provide an enhanced route to exploitation, by covering the full spectrum of technology readiness levels.
- Ensure dissemination of knowledge to the sector, through student-led SME consultancy projects, the National Student
Conference in Metallic Materials and industry events.

3. The wider UK economy will benefit as the CDT will:

- Promote materials science and engineering and encourage future generations to enter the field, through outreach
activities developed by the students that will increase public awareness of the discipline and its contribution to modern
life, and highlight its importance to future innovation and technologies.
- Develop and exploit new technologies and products which will help to maintain a competitive UK advanced
manufacturing sector, ensure an internationally competitive and balanced UK economy for future generations and
contribute to technical challenges in key societal issues such as energy and sustainability.

References:
1. Materials UK Structural Materials Report 2009
2. EPSRC Materials International Review 2008
3. EPSRC Materially Better Call 2013
4. The state of engineering, Engineering UK 2017
5. Vision 2030: The UK Metals Industry's New Strategic Approach, Metals Forum