Mampaey F

Abstract: The features of two variants of the Finite Volume Method which both employ a structured grid, are briefly discussed. The first method (Hybrid) is based on a rectangular grid in which some elements may contain two different materials. In the second method (BFC), the mesh becomes deformed as the vertices of the control volumes are moved to the geometry boundry. Here too, the elements or the control volumes, may be internally mixed with two materials. Both techniques have been applied to construct meshes for three casting geometries for which experimental data exist. Thermal simulations obtained with the BFC method produces results that are in good agreement with experimental data. Examples are given for two different castings. However, this result relies more on accurate material data than on the ability to construct correct geometrical models.

Keywords: Casting geometries, Casting process, Finite Volume Method, Simulation.