RESEARCH AND INNOVATION numerical models of grinding process. On the one hand, the con- tact between the abrasive grain and the workpiece is simulated, in orde to see the effect of tribochemical reactions in wear flat generation, as it is shown in Figure 10. On the other hand, grinding wheel structure and also the interaction between the grain, the bond and the workpiece can be simulated. In general, these models are developed using Discrete Elements Methods, particularly GranOO C++ Workbench. Fig. 10. Single abrasive grain wear simulation using GranOO C++ Workbench. The main advantage of these advanced numerical models is that the expensive traditional schemes of trial and error are avoided. Moreover, these models allow knowledge generation, which can be transferred and applied to real industrial problems. One of the proposals of this research line is to formulate customized grinding wheels depending on customer necessities and on each specific application. Additionally, the complete technological solution for each case of study can be designed in order to achieve the most efficient grinding process. Grinding and dressing process monitoring. In the last years, the companies are worried about the control of grinding process in order to improve process efficiency and redu- cing process cost. Therefore, it is shown the necessity of develop easy to use tools in order to monitoring different process parame- ters and variables. In this sense, a new research line is generated in order to develop an informatics tool with the aim of contro- lling each grinding process, under certain conditions. GRinding REsearch Assistant Tool, GREAT is the name of this powerful application. This tool is designed for data acquisition and data treatment during the process, allowing the control of different process parameters and detecting grinding defects or errors. This tool is developed to analyze online the following process para- meters: power consumption, grinding forces, the specific energy of the process... Also, offline analysis is included on this powerful tool: Grinding burn analysis, volume wear analysis, both of grin- ding wheel or dresser wear, and wear flat analysis. Moreover, one of the objectives of this tool is to generate a database of Wheel- Workpiece materials combination. This fact is of interest both to grinding wheel manufacturers and also to grinders, helping to choose the correct grinding wheel design for a specific application. In figure 11 the interface of developed application is shown, in which the different modules can be seen. Due to the acceptance of the application from companies, bot grinding wheel users and manufacturers, the aim is to upgrade this informatics tool with any module that may enhance the control of grinding process. Thus, GREAT is continuously developed with the industrial necessities. Therefore, different projects are carried out in order to increase the possibilities of this tool. 16 Fig. 11. Interface of GREAT. One of the projects, entitle ‘On the influence of rotary dresser geo- metry on wear evolution and grinding results’ aims to estimate the wear of the diamond form roller used for dressing grinding wheels and the influence of dresser wear on the grinding process. In order to analyze the influence of dresser design in the wear, two types of dressers have been analyzed in this case. In Table 4 the pattern of CVD diamonds are detailed, the shape of the rotary dresser is the same for both dressers but the dimensions are different, as it is shown. Moreover, a Python program is developed to compare dresser profiles in order to quantify the wear. This program has been included in GREAT, enhancing the application. From this research work, it is concluded that the rotary dresser with a higher pit radius presents a wear about 28% higher than the dresser with a half pit radius. RIG 35 RIG 34 CVD Diamond pattern Pit radius (mm) 0.5 0.25 Width (mm) 4.26 3.88 The other project is entitled ‘Systematic characterization of grin- ding wheels’. The main objective of this work is to characterize the performance of a wheel-workpiece pair in grinding processes. In order to achieve it, different tests are carried out on surface and cylindrical grinding machines covering the typical industrial operation conditions for each wheel-workpiece pair. Several points will be taken into account, such as wheel and diamond dresser typology, workpiece material and lubrication conditions. Parameters will be varied in every test to get the performance of