Numerical models for casting solidification: Part II. Application of the boundary element method to solidification problems

A new numerical model, which is based on the boundary element method, was proposed for the simulation of solidification problems, and its application was demonstrated for solidification of metals in metal and sand molds. Comparisons were made between results from this model and those from the explicit finite difference method. Temperature recovery method was successfully adopted to estimate the liberation of latent heat of freezing in the boundary element method. A coupling method was proposed for problems in which the boundary condition of the interface consisting of inhomogeneous bodies is governed by Newton’s law of cooling in the boundary element method. It was concluded that the boundary element method which has several advantages, such as the wide variety of element shapes, simplicity of data preparation, and small CPU times, will find wide application as an alternative for finite difference or finite element methods, in the fields of solidification problems, especially for complex, three-dimensional geometries. On leave from Kyung-Pook National University, Taegu, Korea