Marine engineering group to award ORNL researchers for innovative welding software

Zhili Feng, a distinguished R&D staff member, and Jian Chen, a senior R&D staff member, in Materials Science and Technology Division at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will receive the Elmer L. Hann Award at the Society of Naval Architects and Maritime Engineers, or SNAME, Convention on Oct. 15 in Norfolk, Virginia. SNAME plays a crucial role in promoting excellence in marine engineering and naval architecture, supporting professionals through education, research and collaboration.

The award is presented to authors of the best paper on ship production delivered at a SNAME event. In September 2023, Feng and Chen presented “Develop a Fast Analysis Solver for Welding Sequence Optimization” at the SNAME Maritime Convention in San Diego. The paper — by Feng, Chen and researchers from Ingalls Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries — describes the scientists’ creation of a user-friendly software tool that can quickly analyze and determine the best order for performing welds on ship structures. 

The tool is designed to reduce distortion caused by welding, improve the accuracy of ship parts and decrease the need for corrective work after welding. Some of the potential benefits are a reduced labor requirement for straightening welded parts, improved dimensional accuracy of ship parts and reduced rework and labor hours in downstream processes.

Leveraging more than two and a half decades of research and development experience, Feng leads a team of multidisciplinary scientists and supporting staff in both fundamental and applied studies related to materials joining and allied materials manufacturing processes. Feng has over 200 publications and nine patents. Chen leads and supports various fundamental and applied research and technology innovations sponsored by government agencies and industries. Chen holds multiple patents and software copyrights. Both Feng and Chen have been recognized with numerous awards for their work. 

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.