High resolution finite volume parallel simulations of mould filling and binary alloy solidification on unstructured 3-D meshes

Abstract

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is currently developing a new casting simulation tool (known as Telluride) that employs robust, high-resolution finite volume algorithms for incompressible fluid flow, volume tracking of interfaces, and solidification physics on three-dimensional (3-D) unstructured meshes. Their finite volume algorithms are based on colocated cell-centered schemes that are formally second order in time and space. The flow algorithm is a 3-D extension of recent work on projection method solutions of the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. Their volume tracking algorithm can accurately track topologically complex interfaces by approximating the interface geometry as piecewise planar. Coupled to their fluid flow algorithm is a comprehensive binary alloy solidification model that incorporates macroscopic descriptions of heat transfer, solute redistribution, and melt convection as well as a microscopic description of segregation. The finite volume algorithms, which are efficient, parallel, and robust, can yield high-fidelity solutions on a variety of meshes, ranging from those that are structured orthogonal to fully unstructured (finite element). The authors discuss key computer science issues that have enabled them to efficiently parallelize their unstructured mesh algorithms on both distributed and shared memory computing platforms. These include their functionally object-oriented use of Fortran 90 and new parallel libraries for gather/scatter functions (PGSLib) and solutions of linear systems of equations (JTpack90). Examples of their current capabilities are illustrated with simulations of mold filling and solidification of complex 3-D components currently being poured in LANL foundries