Simulation of macrosegregation with mesosegregates in binary metallic casts by a meshless method

Abstract

Simulation of macrosegregation with mesosegregates as a consequence of solidification of a binary Sn–10%Pb alloy in a 2-dimensional rectangular cast is tackled in the present paper. Coupled volume averaged governing equations for mass, energy, momentum and species transfer are considered by incorporating Lever solidification rule and incompressible Newtonian fluid with Darcy limit in the mushy zone. Solid phase is assumed stationary. Double diffusive effects in the melt are modeled by the thermal and solutal Boussinesq hypothesis. The physical model is solved by the meshless Local Radial Basis Function Collocation Method (LRBFCM) by using 5-noded influence domains, multiquadrics radial basis functions and explicit time stepping. Pressure–velocity coupling is based on local pressure correction. Adaptive upwinding has to be used for stabilization of the convective terms. The numerical simulations reveal instabilities during solidification process that introduce anomalies in the final segregation map that scale with the typical cast as well as sub-cast dimensions. The main advantages of choosing the represented meshless approach for solving the problem are in its simplicity and similar coding in 2D and 3D, as well as straightforward applicability in non-uniform node arrangements. The locality of the proposed numerical approach is also convenient for parallel execution. It is demonstrated that LRBFCM can be advantageously used in casting simulations where the chemical segregation exhibits industrially relevant multi-scale patterns.