An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element approach to non-steady state turbulent fluid flow with application to mould filling in casting

Laurence Gaston (1) , Alima Kamara (1) , Michel Bellet (1)

1 CEMEF - Centre de Mise en Forme des Matériaux

This paper presents a two-dimensional Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element approach of non-steady state turbulent fluid flows with free surfaces. The proposed model is based on a velocity-pressure finite element Navier-Stokes solver, including an augmented Lagrangian technique and an iterative resolution of Uzawa type. Turbulent effects are taken into account with the k-epsilon two-equation statistical model. Mesh updating is carried out through an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method in order to describe properly the free surface evolution. Three comparisons between experimental and numerical results illustrate the efficiency of the method. The first one is turbulent flow in an academic geometry, the second one is a mould filling in effective casting conditions and the third one is a precise confrontation to a water model.

Mots clés: ALE; finite element; fluid flow; free surface; mould filling; turbulence

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Matériaux

Laurence Gaston, Alima Kamara, Michel Bellet. An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element approach to non-steady state turbulent fluid flow with application to mould filling in casting. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 2000, 34 (4), p. 341-369. ⟨10.1002/1097-0363(20001030)34:4<341::AID-FLD64>3.0.CO;2-K⟩. ⟨hal-00537933⟩