Title: Optimisation of ingot casting wheel design using SPH simulations

Authors: Mahesh Prakash, Paul W. Cleary, John Grandfield, Patrick Rohan, Vu Nguyen

Addresses: CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia. ' CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia. ' CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Preston, VIC 3072, Australia. ' CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Preston, VIC 3072, Australia. ' CRC for CAST Metals Manufacturing, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Preston, VIC 3072, Australia

Abstract: Performance improvements of a new filling system for aluminium ingot casting resulting from a combination of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) modelling and pilot scale testing are reported in this paper. The SPH modelling was used as the primary design tool, passing through several design iterations to understand the flow fundamentals and to progressively improve performance. The best concept from the simulation design stage was then refined through a detailed programme of pilot scale testing and a final round of SPH simulation. The results of this development programme will be described, with the new wheel design now able to operate at 50% higher throughput with an expected reduction in the oxide content by about 53% compared to that of the original design.

Keywords: smoothed particle hydrodynamics; SPH modelling; aluminium ingot casting; oxide formation; optimisation; CFD; computational fluid dynamics; casting wheel design; design optimisation; simulation; oxide reduction.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2007.013002

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2007 Vol.7 No.2/3/4, pp.101 - 110

Published online: 03 Apr 2007 *

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