Numerical Simulation of Lost Foam Casting process using OpenFOAM

In this research, a C++ code was developed to simulate the lost foam casting (LFC) process using OpenFOAM an open-source computational fluid dynamics library. Initially, several phenomena, including mold filling, heat transfer, and foam depolymerization, were simulated separately. These simulations were then combined to form a comprehensive LFC process simulation. The Volume of Fluid (VoF) method was employed to capture the free surface location at each timestep during mold filling. Heat transfer between different components, such as molten alloy, gaseous foam, solid foam, and the mold itself, was computed using the fictitious domain approach. The foam pyrolysis kinetic parameters were derived from the thermal gravimetric analysis of polystyrene. The results of the developed code were validated against existing analytical and experimental data, showing good agreement. Additionally, the code is capable of simulating other casting processes, such as sand casting and die casting.

Numerical Simulation of Lost Foam Casting process using OpenFOAM Keywords:

lost foam casting , computational fluid dynamics , numerical simulation , heat transfer , foam pyrolysis