Molten metal flow pattern prediction for complete solidification analysis of near net shape castings

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Abstract
A computational fluid dynamics technique, termed the marker and cell (MAC) technique, and its derivatives, developed at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, NM, USA, initially for nuclear engineering applications, was found to be very useful in predicting the flow of molten metal into casting moulds. The technique allows the evolution of the molten metal domain, as well as the velocity profile and pressure distribution within the molten metal, to be computed. Coupled with the energy equation, the complete thermal history of the molten metal can then be predicted. The present study was conducted to adapt and modify the MAC technique to model the filling of castings. The modifications include those boundary conditions which match the actual casting operation more closely and those numerical procedures which alleviate the problem of numerical stability and reduce the load of computation. The suitability and accuracy of the model was validated by comparisons with high speed motion pictures of water entering transparent models. The results show good consistency. MST/766

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