Effect of cooling pattern on centrifugal casting mold stress–strain distribution through computational fluid dynamics and finite element method analysis

Abstract

A two-dimensional axisymmetric computational fluid dynamics model is developed to predict the transient temperature distribution in the ductile iron pipe as well as in the rotating mold during the horizontal centrifugal casting process. The transient temperature data of the mold generated from the computational fluid dynamics model has been applied as input to the finite element method based mechanical analysis to predict the stress and strain acting on the mold during cyclic thermal loading. The simulations have been performed for five different cases varying the cooling pattern of the mold to optimize the water flow rate and minimize the thermal strain developed in the mold. In the first three cases simulated, the water flow has been decreased only after extracting the cast pipe from the mold. In case 4, the flow rate has been decreased at the start of the casting, increased to 100% after 10 s and again decreased after the pipe extraction till the next cast. The water flow rate has been tripled in case five after the solidified pipe extraction from the mold. The computational fluid dynamics results have been validated against the measured temperature with an optical pyrometer at the plant, and the tangential stress calculated by finite element analysis model has been reasonably validated against the data available in the literature. From the results of computational fluid dynamics and finite element method analyses, case 4 experiences lower von Mises equivalent stress range and plastic equivalent strain at the critical region of the mold near socket section compared to other cases.