Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process

1
1. INTRODUCTION
Metal Casting is one of the oldest manufacturing processes and is still considered as an
Art, rather than a Science. Though newer developments in areas of computer science and
experimentations have provided us with powerful tools to investigate this art more
scientifically, still there exists no model that can accurately predict the exact mold filling
& solidification process, and defects that may arise during casting. Even the models that
are reasonably accurate, take tremendous time and computational power to execute.
The present study mainly deals with the existing flow simulation procedures
(models) along with the heat transfer models and its coupling with flow models, in the
end. But in the beginning, it is good to have a brief knowledge of the present metal
casting scenario, so that the reader can appreciate the importance of methods to predict
the faults in cast product.

1.1 Economical Perspective
There is no need to describe the importance of Metal Casting industry, but for the sake of
completeness, here are a few statistics. (Annual Report 2004, US Department of Energy)
Value of shipments of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous castings (US-2002 data):
USD 16.2 billion
Energy Uses (US data) Direct Fuel usage: 239 trillion Btu
Electricity usage: 221 trillion Btu
(Of these, nearly 55% is spent in melting alone. Rest 45% goes for auxiliary processes
viz. mold making, heat treatment, post-casting processes, etc.)
We can figure out easily, from the above data, the degree of quality control that we need
to put into the metal casting process, so as to make it stay in the market competition.
Even small flaws, that may come while tool designing, mold-forming may cause big
losses in terms of man-hours, energy, and consequently money. The whole bet, in the
metal casting industry, lies on how fast a new product comes into full scale production
after initial conceptualization and hence it is immensely important to minimize shop-floor
trials needed, before the actual production begins. This can be done by substituting actual
trials with computer simulations that will help us in optimizing the whole process of trials
and production.
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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1.2 Casting Defects
The metal casting process suffers from the following types of defect:
Improper Closure: flash, mismatch
Incomplete Filling: cold shut, misrun
Gaseous Entrapments: blow holes, gas porosity
Solid Inclusions: sand inclusions, slag inclusions
Solidification Shrinkage: cavity, porosity, centerline, sink
Hindered Cooling Contraction: hot tear, crack, distortion
The bad tool design causes unacceptably high turbulence, unfilled thin sections,
solidification before complete filling, and hindered heat flow. These cause the major
three defects viz. incomplete filling, solidification shrinkage and hindered cooling
contraction. Hence, these defects can be predicted only after the complete flow and
solidification analysis of the casting process.
To predict the position of a possible defect, we need following physical parameters as
function of time and space:-
1. Flow modeling: velocity vectors, pressures, and surface tracking
2. Heat Transfer modeling: temperature, temperature gradients (of filled metal and
mold both), and heat transfer process (conduction, convection, and radiation)
3. Solidification: change in physical properties (density, viscosity, coefficient of
conductivity, etc.)
There are many casting simulation software available in the market today. To list a few:
1. AutoCAST - Advanced Reasoning Technologies, India
2. Flow 3D - Flow Science Inc. USA
3. ProCAST - Calcom ESI, Switzerland
4. Magmasoft - Infocad S.A., Greece
5. CAPCAST - EKK Inc. USA
The above mentioned software have built-in features like material database (physical
properties at different temperatures), mesh generation tools, gating design tools, and
customized features (like visualization of flow and solidification) for post processing
analysis. In the present study, we will discuss methods of pre-processing, solving and
post-processing. The terms will get clarified as we go along the report.
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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2. FLOW SIMULATION
2.1 The Basics of Flow Simulation
The flow simulation involves prediction of fluid velocity vectors, free surface position,
and pressure as function of time and space. There is a need to compute all these physical
parameters (except free surface position) at all the wet points. To achieve this, the
whole domain is broken into a cloud of points, maintaining some finite distance
between each other, and the physical parameters are then computed. The closer the points
are, the more accurate are the results, but at the cost of computational power and time.
In order to compute the values of physical parameters at a point, their value on the
neighboring ones is required. The initial values at inner points is assumed, and the
values at the domain boundary (wall, inlet, outlet, etc.), that are known, are substituted
directly. The procedure is followed on each one of the points, except at the boundary
ones (as far as they are fixed), till the difference between the value at a point, between
two consecutive iterations, falls below a certain fixed quantity. This is known as
convergence of the solution. The same procedure is followed between two consecutive
time frames (with preset finite time difference between the two). The procedure seems
fairly simple, but is actually numerically challenging (solution may not converge) and
doing iterations involve high computational time. On the top of it, if the situation
involves free surface, first its positions is computed, and then the values of physical
parameters on it. The free surface may not always lie on the points we chose, it may fall
in between them, and it usually does. There are few techniques to deal with the described
problems, and we will discuss about them in details.
In any given flow simulation program, there are three logical steps involved:

2.1.1 Pre-Processing:
This involves mesh generation, assigning boundary, and setting up initial conditions.
Mesh could be two dimensional or three dimensional. The basic unit in a 3d mesh can be
a tetrahedron or a cube. In present study we will concentrate upon cubical meshing. The
nodes form the cloud of points that we discussed previously. Here we assign each of the
points some memory, and also we define the distance between them. The meshing can be
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
4
done in two ways; fixed mesh or dynamic mesh. In fixed mesh, once the distance and
number of nodes is defined, they remain fixed during whole solving process. In dynamic
mesh, on the other hand, the mesh point positions are recalculated as the position of free
surface changes. This happens to be more precise, but as can be easily guessed, a
cumbersome process. The boundary can be of fixed value or fixed gradient or variable
gradient type. The free surface also counts in boundary, or rather moving boundary. The
boundary values are predefined and are not changed during iterations, unless boundary
conditions are is changing. The initial conditions are also specified.

2.1.2 Solver
This is the middle, and largest part in terms of computational power and time spent. In
this the differential equations, that describe the actual situation, are solved numerically,
and the solution is stored at node points that were created during mesh generation. The
iterations are done in this step.

2.1.3 Post-Processing
The large amount of data that is generated in solver part can not be used in tabular form.
We need to have some apprehensible format, like graphs, velocity vector plots, and
animations, to describe the situation more clearly. This is done in the post processing
part.
In the present study we will discuss pre-processing and solver part in details.

2.2 Governing Equations
The equations governing the incompressible fluid flow are
[1]
Navier-Stokes Equations
0 (a)
( ) ( ) (b)
t
=

+ =

u
T
u uu g
i
i
--- (2.1)
where t is time, is density, g is acceleration vector due to gravity, and Tis total stress
tensor that is given by
2 p = + T I D --- (2.2)
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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where p is pressure, is viscosity of fluid, I the unit tensor and D the rate of strain
tensor given by

1
( )
2
T
= + D u u --- (2.3)
When we are talking about free surfaces, the concept of volume fraction also appears into
the picture (see figure 1). It is defined by the fraction of volume of a single cell that is
occupied by one of the fluids (fraction that is wet). The fully filled cells will surely have
fraction 1 associated with them, and empty (in our case, those that are not filled with
liquid metal) will be assigned as 0 value. The cells having 0 <f <1 will be the one,
through which the free surface passes. The fractional volume function is governed by a
transport equation
0 f f
t

+ =

ui --- (2.4)
(with symbols having usual meaning)
Now, as this is a two fluid problem (melt and air), there arises the question about
the values of viscosity and density, that are to be used on the moving interface. In one of
the study [1], the values of these are approximated on the interface as
1 2
1 2
(1 )
(1 )
f f
f f


= +
= +
--- (2.5)
(where the subscripts denotes different fluids viz. 1 and 2)
In usual mold filling situations, turbulent flows occur, so the governing equation [eqn.
(1)] changes to its averaged form, known as Reynolds Averaged NS equations.
( , ) ( , ) ( , ) x t x t x t = + u u u
where,

2
2
1
( , ) ( , )
T
t
T
t
x t x t d
T

+

=

u u --- (2.6)
T being a time interval assumed large enough with respect to the characteristic
time of the fluctuations and small compared with the variation time of the averaged
value.

Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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Thus we obtain RANS equations for incompressible flows

( )
2
0
d
p
dt
+ + =
=
u
u u u I g
u
i i
i
--- (2.7)
in which we have additional Reynolds stresses due to turbulent dissipation
R
ij i j
u u

= --- (2.8)
2.3 Boundary Conditions
If we define the volumetric domain as, then d will denote the domain boundary.
Inlet Boundary,
in
d
Either uniform velocity distribution or a uniform pressure can be specified. Both
can be eventually time dependent. Denoting n as outward pointing normal vector
to
in
d , we can write
( , ) or ( ) x t P t = = u u n n --- (2.13)
Free Surface,
free
d
= n T
The vector T, collinear to the outward pointing normal vector n, can result from
surface tension or pressure of residual gases in the mold cavity.
Fluid Mold Interface,
mold
d
For no slip condition 0
t
u = , i.e. tangential velocity is zero.
Another situation can be considered as sliding at walls, but then with tangential
stress,
t
T u = . In addition no penetration condition has to be satisfied, 0 = u n i .
2.4 Discretization
After identifying the governing equations, and choosing boundary conditions, we
need to discretize the differential equations.
[3]


2.4.1 Time Steps
Let
0 1 2
0 ...
N
t t t t T = < < < < = be a subdivision of the time interval [0,T], define
1 n n n
t t

= the n
th
time step, n = 1, 2, 3 N. Given an integer n, assume the
approximation
1 1 1
, ,
n n n
f

u are available.

Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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The first step would be solving the advection terms, between time t
n-1
and t
n
.
( ) 0 and 0
t t

+ = + =

w
w w w i i --- (2.18)
with initial conditions;
1 1 n-1 1
( ) and (t )
n n n
t f

= = w u
If the effect of cavity boundary is not considered, these two problems can be solved
exactly. Let u
n-1/2
denote the solution of first advection term at time t
n
, u
n-1/2
=w(t
n
). Let f
n
denote the solution of second advection term at same time instant.

We thus have
1/2 1 1
1 1
( ( )) ( )
( ( )) ( )
n n n n
n n n n
x x x
f x x f x

+ =
+ =
u u u
u
--- (2.19)
Now we comes the diffusion step. The generalized Stokes problem:

1/2
2 ( )
0
n n
n n
n
n
p

+ =
=
u u
D u g
u
i
i
--- (2.20)
with described boundary conditions.
Next, we shall see the results of a flow simulation inside a step-cavity, done using
commercially available software.
[6]

2.5 Example - Filling of a Step Cavity
The given example
[6]
shows effect of inertia and gravity forces on the flow-front
movement. The cavity is fed by fluid under a uniform velocity
1
1
in
u ms

= . A friction
boundary condition is applied to all the surfaces of the mold. The kinematic viscosity is
2 1
0.0001 m s

= , which leads to a Reynolds number of 300. The Froude Number is a
characteristic number that represents the ratio between inertia and gravity forces. In
present case Fr 1.84 = is used. A non dimensional quantity (t/T) is used to keep the track,
where t is the given instant (filling begins at t =0) and T is total filling time of the cavity.
At the beginning of the filling, the flow accelerates in downward direction, and high
velocities are achieved. When the flow hits the step, it slows down. At this moment, the
due to inertia-effect it suddenly starts rising. At t/T =0.50, we can see inertia-effect is
dominating the gravity-effect. As the t/T increases, the gravity slowly takes over the
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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inertia and the maximum velocity starts falling. After t/T >0.71, the velocities in the left
part of the mold become more or less uniform. Also towards the end of the filling, the
free surface slowly stables down and moves uniformly in upward direction.






Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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Step Cavity Filling (Gao D.M. 1999)
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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Step Cavity Filling (Gao D.M. 1999)


Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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3. Heat Transfer Simulation
3.1 The Basics of Heat Transfer Simulation
The concepts behind the heat transfer simulation are same as for flow simulation, with all
that pre-processing, solving and post-processing parts. In cases, where liquid metal
temperature doesnt change much while filling (i.e. filling time is less and castings are
thick), we can separately do heat transfer analysis. The good thing about this is that we
need not to worry about changing mesh topology or geometry every iteration. The mesh
is generally kept fixed, and the domain is assumed to be same (assuming negligible
contraction). The only problem to deal with is quickly changing physical properties with
the temperature, and for that we need to have a database of physical properties
(coefficient of thermal conductivity, etc.)
But while filling of thin castings, where the molten metal looses heat fast enough
to affect the flow (like in investment casting of jewelry), we need to couple heat transfer
modeling with flow. This greatly increases the complications.

3.2 Governing Equations
The heat transfer process is essentially governed by the energy conservation law.
[3]
Energy conservation equation
T
c k T
t

--- (3.1)
where, c is specific heat and k is thermal conductivity.
Dirichlet boundary conditions can be prescribed for this equation in the form of specified
temperature values at the boundary. Natural boundary conditions may include specified
values of external heat flux, convective and radiative heat transfer to the ambient

4 4
( ) ( )
a a a a
T
k q h T T T T
n

= + +

--- (3.2)
where
a
h is convective heat transfer coefficient,
a
T is ambient temperature and is
emissivity of the surface. Solidification is accompanied by release of latent heat at solid
liquid interface. When a conventional alloy or impure metal is cooled from a liquid, it
begins to solidify at the liquidus temperature
liq
T and solidifies completely at the
sol
T ,
solidus temperature. Pure metals and eutectic alloys undergo phase change isothermally,
i.e. solidification occurs at a constant temperature
m
T .
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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The ratio of sensible heat to the latent heat is defined as the Stefan number (Ste)

sf
c T
Ste
h

--- (3.3)
The smaller value of Stefan number indicates the slower interface movement due to large
latent heat.
There exist Front Tracking Method and Fixed Grid Method. The second method
is discussed below.

Fixed Grid Method
This method treats entire domain as one. Boundary is not explicitly defined. This has a
few advantages like, ease of implementation, no re-meshing, and alloys with finite
freezing range can be handled, to name a few. The Enthalpy Method, as one of the
classification of fixed grid method, involves re-writing heat conduction equation in terms
of enthalpy
( )
h
k T
t

--- (3.4)
where h is enthalpy per unit mass. Full enthalpy methods treat the enthalpy as the nodal
unknown and use either an explicit method or an iterative implicit method to solve the
above equation. Temperature can be evaluated from h-T relationship
(1 )
m
s f m
sf m
cdT T T
h cdT f h T T
cdT h T T

<

= + =

+ >

for pure metals. --- (3.5)

For alloys, instead of single temperature for the second term, it will be over a
range
sol liq
T T T and rest will be the same.
Using Finite Element Method, the governing equation can be discretized spatially
by central difference scheme, and temporally by forward difference scheme. The
resulting simultaneous equation relating the nodal temperature at two successive steps
can be written as

1
[ ]
n n
t
+
+ = + C K T f CT --- (3.6)
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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where , , C K f are capacitance matrix, stiffness matrix and nodal heat flux vector
]respectively.

4. Is Fluid Flow important in predicting solidification?
As we have seen already, the system of equations describing liquid metal filling, consists
of five
[5]
; viz. the continuity, momentum in three directions, and energy conservation
equation. If we assume instantaneous filling, this system reduces to just one, i.e., the
energy conservation equation. This significantly reduces computational time. By doing
this we lose the temperature conditions in metal mold after filling process has ended. So
we need to assume uniform temperature distribution in metal and the mold. The
convection effect, and residual metal flow is also neglected when we assume
instantaneous metal filling, that were actually contributing to the heat transfer process.
The natural convection takes place due to difference in temperature between
different regions of the filled liquid metal. This causes different cooling rates in different
parts, thus non uniform solidification.
The residual flow continues to exist for some time after the metal filling has been
done. This carries heat to the solidifying regions, thus delaying the process.
The conduction occurs when the material particles do not move physically, and
the energy only diffuses through them. Whereas in convection, the particles physically
transport the energy from one point to another.
Two cases are described below:
1. As the liquid metal starts cooling, the solidification process begins in the regions
with temperature below liquidus temperature. The high temperature gradients
occur near the interface of metal and mold. The region with highest temperature
and lowest temperature gradient solidifies last, thus providing feed metal to the
regions that have contracted due to solidification. Now, if this region occurs far
from the feeder, the path between this hot spot and feeder will get blocked due
to solid metal, thus creating void(s) in hot spot region. This is one of the major
defects.
2. Also, when the molten metal is filled in thin castings, the higher heat transfer rates
cause it to solidify before complete filling, resulting into cold-shut, or misruns.
Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation in Metal Casting Process
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If we decide to go for only heat transfer simulation without doing flow simulation, we are
going to end up in troubles. In first case, the presence of defect can be predicted using
heat transfer simulation results only, but not always. Also it does not tell exact location
and size of such defects.
Whereas in second case, assuming instantaneous and complete filling is a wrong
assumption. So it depends on the situation, whether to go for heat transfer simulation
alone, or to include the flow simulation also.

Conclusion
The Metal Casting simulation thus comprises of three important parts; Flow simulation,
Heat transfer simulation and solidification analysis. All the three phenomena take place
simultaneously. The fluid flow problem comprises of surface tracking and determining
the velocity vectors. The VOF method was introduced, that marks a cell as empty,
partially or fully-filled. The changing temperatures cause physical properties to change
and complicate the problem further. The flow is inherently associated with the
solidification process, where the local convection currents cause heat transfer coefficients
to change. Also to fill up the gap created by contracted metal, the liquid metal from hot
regions flow toward the cold region thus transferring heat to these.
To keep the life simple, certain assumptions like instantaneous filling was
described that can decouple the flow and heat transfer simulation, in general cases. But as
mentioned earlier, assumptions increase differences between the simulation and the real
life (like in the case of thin castings). So it is immensely important to identify the
problem accurately, weigh the trade-offs we can afford to make, and then select the most
suitable method.
We also discussed the governing equations, and the method of solving them
numerically. The two examples in the end provided us with practical issues that govern
our choice of simulation procedure.

Contents


Abstract

1. Introduction
1.1. Economical Perspective 1
1.2. Casting Defects 2
2. Metal Casting Simulation The Flow
2.1. The Basics of Flow Simulation 3
2.1.1. Pre-Processing 3
2.1.2. Solver 4
2.1.3. Post-Processing 4
2.2. Governing Equations 4
2.3. Boundary Conditions 6
2.4. Descritization 6
2.5. Flow Simulation Example 7
3. Metal Casting Simulation The Heat
3.1. The Basics of Heat Transfer Simulation 11
3.2. Governing Equations 11
Fixed Grid Method 12
4. Is Flow Simulation Needed? 13

Conclusion 14

References













Abstract

The present study deal with steps involved in Metal Casting simulation, viz. Flow and
Heat Transfer simulation. The market status of metal casting industry is given, with
emphasis on need for metal casting simulation. Flow simulation is explained with
concepts and numerical procedure involved. Technical terms like pre-processing, solver,
and post-processing are described from users point of view. Solution of the governing
equations is also described briefly. Need for heat transfer analysis and its methods are
explained. Importance of Flow simulation is described. An example of step-cavity filling
is illustrated.




































REFERENCES
[1] Chang Rong-Yeu and Yang Wen-sien, (2001), "Numerical simulation of mold filling
in injection molding using three dimensional finite volume approach" Int. J. Num. Meth.
Fluids, 37, 125-148.

[2] Gaston L., Kamara A., and Bellet M., (2000), "An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian
finite element approach to non-steady state turbulent fluid flow with application to mould
filling in casting" Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids, 34, 341-369.

[3] Maronnier V., Picasso M., and Rappaz J ., (2003), "Numerical Simulation of three-
dimensional free surface flows" Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids, 42, 697-716.

[4] Lewis R.W. and Ravindran K., (2000), "Finite element simulation of metal casting"
Int. J. Num. Meth. Engg., 47, 29-59.

[5] Barkhudarov M. R., (1997), Is Fluid flow important for predicting solidification?
Conference Proceedings Solidification Processing 97 Conference, Sheffield UK.

[6] Gao D.M., (1999), "A three dimensional hybrid finite element volume tracking model
for mould filling in casting process", Int. J. Num. Meth. Fluids, 29, 877-895.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Ravi B. (IIT Bombay), Lecture Slides, ME-333: Manufacturing Processes I
(2006, Spring)

[2] Sharma A. (IIT Bombay), Lecture Slides, ME-415: Computational Fluid Dynamics
and Heat Transfer (2007, Autumn)

[3] Tomovic M.M. (Purdue University) Simulation software makes Metal-casting course
more interesting and challenging