3D simulation of interdendritic flow through a Al-18wt.%Cu structure captured with X-ray microtomography

A central parameter to describe the formation of porosity and macrosegregation during casting processes is the permeability of the dendritic mushy zone. To determine this specific feature for a binary Al-18wt.%Cu alloy, flow simulations based on the Lattice Boltzmann (LB) method were performed. The LB method allows an efficient solving of fluid flow problems dealing with complex shapes within an acceptable period of time. The 3D structure required as input for the simulations was captured with X-ray microtomography, which enables the generation of representative geometries for permeability investigations. Removing the eutectic phase from the measured dataset generated a remaining network of solid primary dendrites. In the simulations, a pressure gradient was applied to force the liquid through the free interdendritic channels. The permeability of the structure was then calculated from the resulting flow velocity pattern using Darcy’s law. To examine the influence of different boundary conditions on the results obtained, several simulations were conducted