On a mushy cell tracking method for simulating Gallium melting

• Main Authors: Lee Shih-Hsun, 李世勳
• Other Authors: Jan Yih-Jena
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/65088296909031084450

碩士 === 國立高雄海洋科技大學 === 輪機工程研究所 === 96 === Gallium melting in a rectangular cavity heated from the side wall has been extensively studied. Since the previously simulated results were not consistent and the myth of grid-converged solution remained, we will re-examine this problem using the thermally driven mushy cell tracking method to clarify whether the solution is physically correct? In the study, the computational domain will be separated into the solid-phase and liquid-phase regions, with the mushy cell placed in between. The governing equations for the thermo-fluid transport are expressed in terms of the primitive variables and will be discretized in the stationary unstructured grid using the finite-volume formulation. As for the mushy cell tracking equation, it is derived under the mass and energy balance laws to capture the mushy cell front. With the variables located in the cell centers, the distinguished characteristic of the present tracking algorithm lies in the specification of constant melting or freezing temperature at the center of the mushy cells without consideration of the curvature and normal velocity effects in the dendritic solidification. Thanks to this feature, a straightforward and accurate evaluation of the boundary conditions at the interface of the mushy, solid and liquid cells becomes feasible. The predicted moving interface and thermo-fluid field of Gallium melting are shown to agree well with the results from other numerical solutions.