Application of Free Surface CFD Simulation in the Materials Processing Industries

摘要

In recent years, computing power hasincreased dramatically. Superscalar, superpipelinedCUP architectures, combined with rapid reductions in thecost of memory have brought high-performance computingto the desktops of the engineering community.Increasingly, these capabilities are being used to applyhigh-end simulation codes to previously intractable engineering problems.One such class of problems can be found in the secondarymaterials processing industries, particularly infoundries and injection molding shops. These problemsinvolve the simulation of mold filling processes, inwhich liquid metals or plastics are forced into a moldand cooled to form a near-net shape product. Through theapplication of free surface CFD codes, engineers can nowvisualize the mold filling process and gain a usefulunderstanding of the effect of key process variables ondefect formation. Some examples of this technology willbe presented using the commercial finite element code WRAFTS.