ABOUT US
General Information
ITASCA JAPAN was built in 2005 at Shizuoka City, SHIZUOKA, JAPAN. At the time, the business has been consulting services and software development and customize related to geo-engineering field based on the Discrete Element Method to expand ITASCA business as a Japanese branch of ITASCA Consulting Group, Inc. in Minneapolis, USA. Now, the main field is shifted to earth science and earth engineering field. Also, it’s a venture company, as the business is linked to research activities of Shimizu lab., Tokai University. The accuracy of the numerical code is improved and new schemes are added by feeding-back results from research activities at the Shimizu lab.. Furthermore, high quality consulting jobs are served using the developed numerical code. Also, the services are conducted in cooperation with individual clients in each field.
Activities
Main activities in iTASCA JAPAN is as follows, that is, consulting services and software development based on the Discrete Element Method and multi-phase flow codes in earth science and earth engineering field.The actual fields are mineral resources and energies development, geo-hazards engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering (civil, construction, mining and agricultural machineries). Some of activities so far are as follows.
1. Development of software; new scheme and numerical model, customize software.
2. Consulting services using developed software.
3. Others, such as Q&A and training courses related to developed software.
Consulting services
1. Services related to geo-hazards such as landslide, debris flow and liquefaction
2. Services related to development of civil, construction, mining and agricultural machineries
3. Services related to mining and lifting system for mineral resources and energies in marine
4. Others, seminar and training …
Developed schemes and numerical models
1. Microscopic fluid coupling scheme with Discrete Element Method
2. Fixed coarse grid thermal fluid coupling scheme with Discrete Element Method
3. Lattice Boltzmann Method with Discrete Element Method using Immersed Boundary Scheme
4. Multi-Element Visco-Elastic contact model in Discrete Element Method
5. Parallel algorithms using GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
6. Others, bonding logic between Particle-Wall …
Itasca Japan
Shimizu, Shizuoka city, Shizuoka pref. JAPAN
Staff: Yoshiyuki Shimizu
CV (to Shimizu Lab. Tokai univ.)
Education:
Dr. Eng. (Mechanical Engineering), 1994, Osaka University, Japan
M.Sc. (Mineral Science & Technology Engineering), 1983, Tohoku University, Japan
B.Sc. (Mineral Science & Technology Engineering), 1981, Tohoku University, Japan
Professional Experience:
2005 – present Professor, Tokai University and Senior Consultant, ITASCA JAPAN
2000 – 2005 Itasca Consulting Group, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota,Project/Software Engineer
1998 – 2000 University of Minnesota, Post-Doctoral Fellow
1991 – 1998 Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Osaka, Japan, Senior Researcher
1983 – 1991 Hitachi Zosen Corporation, Osaka, Japan, Researcher
Project Experience:
(1). Research and development of mining machinery and system: Numerical simulations on Methane hydrate resources development system, Experimental research on Manganese nodule mining with air-lift pump.
(2). Software Development and Consulting: Significant contributor to the development of Itasca’s Particle Flow Codes (PFC2D/3D) consulting services for clients in the use and application of PFC2D/3D.
(3). Numerical Modeling and Simulation: Three-dimensional DEM (Distinct Element Method) simulations of bulk handling, Fluid coupling simulations with DEM
(4). Research and development of construction machinery: Automatic control method of shield tunneling machine, Multi-face shiled tunneling machine, TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine)