Study and Application of Mold Filling Simulation of Shaped Castings

In this paper, an algorithm for simulating fluid flow and heat transfer for mold filling of shaped castings is presented. The main features of the algorithm include: 1) a simple but practical technique based on VOF method to determine free surface, 2) an explicit scheme of enthalpy to solve the energy equation more efficiently, and 3) an effective treatment to modify the flux deviation due to pressure iteration. In order to verify these methods, well controlled experiments have been repeatedly done with both water analog and gray iron pouring experiments to record the flow patterns and temperature variations. The calculated results are in accordance with the experimental ones. For the applications, the simulated initial temperature distribution right after mold filling was used to analyse subsequent solidification and to predict shrinkage defects. Actual castings were poured and tested in a foundry plant. The reuslts show that the defects predication with considering fluid flow effects is more precise than that without considering the effects.

Study on Numerical Simulation of Mold Filling and Heat Transfer in Die Casting Process

A 3-D mathematical model considering turbulence phenomena has been established based on a computational fluid dynamics technique, so called 3-D SOLA-VOF (Solution Algorithm-Volume of Fluid), to simulate the fluid flow of mold filling process of die casting. In addition, the mathematical model for simulating the heat transfer in die casting process has also been established. The computation program has been developed by the authors with the finite difference method (FDM) recently. As verification, the mold filling process of a S-shaped die casting has been simulated and the simulation results coincide with that of the benchmark test. Finally, as a practical application, the gating design of a motorcycle component was modified by the mold filling simulation and the dies design of another motorcycle component was optimized by the heat transfer simulation. All the optimized designs were verified by the production practice.

Numerical simulation for different motion forms of sliding soil along slope with PFC3D

The motion forms（deformation） of the sliding soil along the slope include inviscid particle flow,viscous particle flow,and mass sliding.The motion forms were mainly influenced by the mechanical properties of the viscous mud medium filling.The effect of the medium filling on the motion forms of the sliding soil is worth discussing.The sliding soil can be seen as the mixture which is composed of the medium filling and coarse particles.The Chengdu clay with different moisture contents were selected as the medium filling.Their mechanical parameters were experimentally measured for simulating the moving process of the sliding soil.Different motion forms of the sliding soil were numerical simulated based on PFC3D by changing the specific mechanical parameters.The mechanical parameters of the Chengdu clay are experimentally determined.The numerical results show that with the moisture content of the filling slurry medium in the range of 〉302%,101%~182%,and 〈80%,the motion form of the sliding soil belongs to the inviscid particles flow（similar with the sliding sand）,viscous particles flow（seen as the viscous flows）;and masssliding（seen as the block sliding along the slope surface）,respectively.

MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF FILLED AND EMPTY CAGE-LIKE WATER CLUSTERS IN LIQUID WATER AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE TO GAS HYDRATE FORMATION MECHANISMS

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to observe the evolutions of 512 and 51262 cage-like water clusters filled with or without a methane molecule immersed in bulk liquid water at 250 K and 230 K. The lifetimes of these clusters are calculated according to their Lindemann index δ (t) using the criteria of δ≥0.07. For both the filled and empty clusters, we find the dynamics of bulk water determines the lifetimes of cage-like water clusters, and that the lifetime of 512 62 cage-like cluster is the same as that of 512 cage-like cluster. Although the methane molecule indeed makes the filled cage-like cluster more stable than the empty one, the empty cage-like cluster still has chance to be long-lived compared with the filled clusters. These observations support the labile cluster hypothesis on the formation mechanisms of gas hydrates.

Drilling load modeling and validation based on the filling rate of auger flute in planetary sampling

Some type of penetration into a subsurface is required in planetary sampling. Drilling and coring, due to its efficient penetrating and cuttings removal characteristics, has been widely applied in previous sampling missions. Given the complicated mechanical properties of a planetary regolith, suitable drilling parameters should be matched with different drilling formations properly.Otherwise, drilling faults caused by overloads could easily happen. Hence, it is necessary to establish a drilling load model, which is able to reveal the relationships among drilling loads, an auger＇s structural parameters, soil＇s mechanical properties, and relevant drilling parameters. A concept for the filling rate of auger flute（FRAF） is proposed to describe drilling conditions. If the FRAF index under one group of drilling parameters is less than 1, this means that the auger flute currently removes cuttings smoothly. Otherwise, the auger will be choked with compressed cuttings. In drilling operations, the drilling loads on the auger mainly come from the conveyance action, while the drilling loads on the drill bit primarily come from the cutting action. Experiments in one typical lunar regolith simulant indicate that the estimated drilling loads based on the FRAF coincide with the test results quite well. Based on this drilling load model, drilling parameters have been optimized.