The Solidification

Model in FLUENT

Advanced Multiphase
Modeling Course

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Solidification

FLUENT provides
id the
h following
f ll i capabilities
bili i for
f modeling
d li
solidification and melting:
z

z
z

Calculation of liquid-solid
q
solidification/melting
g in pure
p
metals as
well as in binary alloys.
Modeling of continuous casting processes (i.e., pulling of solid
material out of the domain).
)
Modeling of the thermal contact resistance between solidified
material and walls (e.g., due to the presence of an air gap).
Modeling of species transport with solidification/melting
solidification/melting.
Postprocessing of quantities related to solidification/melting (e.g.
liquid fraction and pull velocities)

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Limitation

The solidification/melting
Th
lidifi i / l i model
d l can be
b usedd only
l with
i h the
h segregatedd
solver; it is not available with the coupled solvers.
The solidification/melting model cannot be used for compressible
flows.
fl
Of the general multiphase models (VOF, mixture, and Eulerian), only
the VOF model can be used with the solidification/melting model.
With the exception of species diffusivities, you cannot specify material
properties separately for the solid and liquid materials.
When using the solidification/melting model in conjunction with
modeling species transport with reactions, there is no mechanism to
restrict the reactions to only the liquid region; i.e., the reactions are
solved everywhere.

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Energy Equation

The
h enthalpy
h l off the
h material
i l is
i computedd as the
h sum off the
h
sensible enthalpy, h, and the latent heat, H:
h = href +

H = h + H

Tref

c p dT

href = Reference enthalpy

Tref = Reference temperature
C p = Specific heat at constant pressure

0
for T < Tsolidus
T T
solidus
for Tsolidus < T < Tliquidus
=
li id Tsolidus
lid
Tliquidus

for T > Tsolidus

1
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Energy Equation

The
h latent
l
heat
h content can now be
b written
i
in
i terms off the
h
latent heat (melting heat) of the material:
h = L

For solidification/melting problems, the energy equation is

written as:
r
(h )
+ ( v H ) = (k T ) + S
t

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Momentum + Turbulence

The
h momentum sink
i k due
d to the
h reduced
d d porosity
i in
i the
h
mushy zone takes the following form: A
2
(
1 )
S=

+
3

v v
Amush (v vpull )

= 0.001
10 4 < Amush < 107

Sinks are added to all of the turbulence equations in the

mushy and solidified zones to account for the presence of
solid matter:
2
(1 ) A
S= 3
mush
+

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Species Equation

For the case of multicomponent solidification with species segregation,

segregation
the solidus and liquidus temperatures are computed using the following
equations:

Tsolidus = Tmelt +

K m Y
+ m Y
i

Solutes

Tliquidus = Tmelt

Solutes

where: Ki = Partition coefficient of solute i,

i which is the ratio
of the concentration in solid to that in liquid at the
interface.
Yi = Mass fraction of solute i T
mi = Slope
Sl
off the
th liquidus
li id surface
f
with
ith respectt to
t Yi.

It is assumed that the last species material of the mixture is the solvent
and that the other species are the solutes.

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Species Equation

The
h following
f ll i species
i equation
i is
i solved:
l d
r
r
r
( Yi )
+ vliq Yi , liq + (1 ) vsol Yi , sol = J + Ri
t
Diffusion flux of species i:

J i = Di ,m , liq Yi , liq + (1 ) Di ,m , sol Yi , sol

Average species mass fraction in a cell:

Yi = Yi , liq + (1 )Yi , sol
Yi , sol = K i Yi , liqq

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Contact Resistance at Walls

The
h wall
ll heat
h flux
fl can be
b written
i
as:
T Tw
q=
L
+ Rc (1 )
k

Wall

T = Tw

Tw

T
Rc

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Pull Velocity for Continuous Casting

Mushyy zone

Solidified shell

r
vpull
Liquid core

Wall

Pulling a Solid in Continuous Casting

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Pull Velocity for Continuous Casting

The
h exact computation
i off the
h pull
ll velocity
l i for
f the
h solid
lid
material is dependent on the Young's modulus and
Poisson's ratio of the solid and the forces actingg on it.
FLUENT uses a Laplacian equation to approximate the
pull velocities in the solid region based on the velocities at
the boundaries of the solidified region:
r
pull = 0
v

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Boundary Conditions

FLUENT uses the

h following
f ll i boundary
b
d
conditions
di i
when
h
computing the pull velocities:
z

At a velocityy inlet,, stationary

y wall,, or moving
g wall,, the specified
p
velocity is used.
At all other boundaries (including the liquid-solid interface
between the liquid
q
and solidified material),
), a zero-gradient
g
velocity
y
is used.

The pull velocities are computed only in the solid region.

N t th
Note
thatt FLUENT can also
l use a specified
ifi d constant
t t value
l
or custom field function for the pull velocity, instead of
computing it.

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Setup Procedure

Values
l
between
b
104 andd 107 are recommended
d d for
f most
computations.
Define
Models
Solidification & Melting
The higher the value of the
mushy zone constant, the
steeper the damping curve
b
becomes,
andd the
th faster
f t the
th
velocity drops to zero as
the material solidifies.
Very large values may cause the solution to oscillate as
control volumes alternately solidify and melt with minor
perturbations in liquid volume fraction.
fraction

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Setup Procedure

In the
h Materials
i l panel,
l specify
if the
h melting
l i heat
h solidus
lid
temperature and liquidus temperature for the material
beingg used in yyour model.
If you are solving for species transport, you also must
specify the melting temperature of pure solvent.
z
z

The solvent
Th
l
is
i the
h last
l species
i material
i l off the
h mixture
i
material.
i l
For each solute, you will have to specify the slope of the liquidus
surface (slope of liquidus line) with respect to the concentration of
the
h solute
l , the
h partition
i i coefficient,
ffi i
andd the
h rate off diffusion
diff i in
i
solid.

It is not necessary to specify mi and Ki for the solvent.

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Setup Procedure

Set the
h boundary
b
d
conditions.
di i
If you want to account for the presence of an air gap
between a wall and an adjacent solidified region,
region specify a
non-zero value, a profile, or a user-defined function for
Contact Resistance under Thermal Conditions in the Wall
panel.
l
If you want to specify the gradient of the surface tension
with respect
p to the temperature
p
at a wall boundary,
y, yyou can
use the Marangoni Stress option for the wall Shear
condition.

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VOF + Phase Change

Droplet
l solidification
lidifi i
Droplet and air at T0 = 510 K, wall at 475 K

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