Numerical Simulation of Bubbles Expansion and Solidification of Metal Foams

Abstract

Metal foams have both structural and functional properties, offer advantages in different fields such as automotive and aircraft etc., and thus gain more and more technical interest. In this study, a computational model is presented which allows the numerical simulation of the bubble expansion and solidification during metal foaming processes. Mathematical modelling of the different relevant physical properties and effects during the metal foam expansion and solidification is discussed in this paper. This model considers the broad variety of the complex boundary conditions, the simple and multiphase fluid flow with complex geometries, the stabilization of the foams, and the mutual interactions between the bubbles. The Navier-Stokes equation is applied to elucidate the fluid flows in the liquid and in the mushy zone. And the diffusion equation for the hydrogen transport, the distribution functions of the temperature, the density and kinetic equations are also be proposed and discussed.

Replication casting and additive manufacturing for fabrication of cellular aluminum with periodic topology: optimization by CFD simulation

“…Flow-3D software discretizes the spatial domain into small cells to form a volume mesh using the finite difference model. The software counts with an internal multi-block meshing system with rectangular elements that allows the level of detail on specified areas of geometry to be increased, then divides the domain into discrete volumes, known as "control volume" approach, to solve the Navier-Stokes [34,35].…”

“…These types of computational tools have generally been led toward the study of their mechanical [32] or physical properties [33], with few reports related to their use in their manufacturing. Most research are concentrated on closed-pore foams processing, on topics such as bubble decay analysis, bubble expansion, and foam solidification obtained with foaming agent [34][35][36].…”