Computer Simulation of the Filling Process of Air Intake Hood Based on ProCAST

Abstract

The intake hood is the part which riveted in the external skin of the aircraft. During the flight of the aircraft, the engine casing is cooled down by the high-speed airflow which flows through the air intake duct. As the components suffer the impact of the high-speed airflow, the appearance of the intake hood must meet the requirements of the aerodynamic property. At the same time, its manufacturing quality has a certain impact on the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft, so its synthetic mechanical property is required high. The traditional air intake hoods are block-combination welded by the aluminum alloy sheet. Its complicated working procedure, long production cycle, high costs and the difficult weld methods make it difficult to guarantee the welding quality. In order to improve the useful life of the air intake hood, to lower the production difficulty and to solve the quality risks in the production due to the method of weld, in this article, the high-strength aluminum alloy ZL101A and plaster mould investment casting were used to mold the intake hood based on the three-dimensional geometric modeling of the air intake hood by software Pro/E, and then, the filling and solidification process of the air intake hood was simulated by the casting simulation software ProCAST to predict the defects such as misrun, cold shut, wrapped in air, the thermal centre and the residual stress and deformation which were displayed in the filling and the solidification processes of the metal. Then, the casting process of the air intake hood can be optimized to achieve a decrease or avoid casting defects in the actual production.