Title: A finite element mesh management in casting simulation

Authors: Chongdu Cho, Woojung Kim, Bonghak Choi, Siyoung Kwak, Qiang Pan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea; KITECH, No. 2005, 994-32, Dongchun-Dong, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon 406-800, South Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea; KITECH, No. 2005, 994-32, Dongchun-Dong, Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon 406-800, South Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering,Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, South Korea

Abstract: A finite element mesh management technique was introduced in this study to overcome the difficulty in analysing thermal stress distribution of mushy region including molten materials and solidifying shell. A new |elements termination and creation method| was utilised to represent molten materials during casting process. Through this method, the molten elements were terminated (or removed) and recreated just after they were cooled lower than liquid temperature. To reduce the error in simulation, the hybrid FDM/FEM method was adopted to analyse heat flow and thermal stress, respectively. Compared with the earlier methods, the proposed technique was observed to be able to simulate the real-time casting process effectively. Moreover, the accuracy of the results were proved to be enhanced by introducing a reduction factor for molten casting materials and considering the material as temperature dependent in mushy region as well. [Received 25 October 2006; Accepted 10 January 2007]

Keywords: FEA; FEM; finite element analysis; finite element method; finite difference method; FDM; modelling; FE mesh management; numerical techniques; element termination; element creation; casting process; thermal stress; heat flow; simulation; mushy region; molten elements.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCMSSE.2007.013831

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, 2007 Vol.1 No.1, pp.4 - 17

Published online: 30 May 2007 *

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