Confluence and cold shut computation based on time field in casting simulation

Abstract

Numerical simulation technology has been widely used in the foundry industry to analyze and improve casting processes. During the casting filling process, many filling-related defects form easily at the confluences of liquid metal streams. The main filling-related defects are cold shut defects. To calculate the positions of casting defects, the characteristics of liquid metal confluences were analyzed. The flow front of liquid metal was captured by the volume-of-fluid algorithm to obtain a time field, which was used to calculate the time derivatives of the liquid front position and the confluences of liquid metal streams. To distinguish small confluences from the main confluences, the concept of confluent scale was developed, which was used to filter the small confluences based on a threshold. The calculation process was demonstrated through the post-processing of numerical simulation. A “W” shaped casting and a steering wheel casting were calculated to validate the accuracy of the method developed in this study. The positions of cold shut defects were predicted by calculating the confluences of liquid metal streams. The method was proved to be practical by comparing the calculation results with the positions of cold shut defects in an end cover casting. The computation of confluences and cold shut defects can improve the analysis efficiency and provide assurance for the optimization of a casting process plan.