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Cathryn Karashin
Advisor: Dr. Krane

 

 everage cans, planes,

trains, automobiles,
boats, spacecraft parts
 Used as the mold
material in Al casting
 Al is very lightweight (1/3
the weight of steel) so it
is very useful

Picture courtesy of Aluminum: Technology, Applications, and

Environment by Dietrich G. Altenpohl
 
 

 Direct chill (DC) casting process is used for

68% of the aluminum ingots processed in the
US
 Ingot scrap from stress cracks and butt
deformation account for a 5% loss in
production
 Control of scrap levels is important both in
terms of energy usage and cost savings
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Photos courtesy of M. Krane

º

 Sump depth at start up?

 Flood et al. believe the
sump increases at start
up, then decreases and
plateaus
 Through modeling, we
hope to have a more
definite answer

A scaling Analysis for the Heat Flow, Solidification &

Convection in Continuous Casting of Aluminum by Flood,
Davidson, & Rogers
 
  
 |odels thermal and
mechanical properties
 Puts continuous equations
into discrete parts; breaking
down into simple algebraic
terms
 Produces a results file that
can be used to generate
graphs and analyze data

Photo courtesy of http://www.gre.ac.uk/~physica

 



 To model heat transfer and solidification

phenomena in direct chill casting using Physica
software
 To study sump shapes during start up as basis
for future stress analysis
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 1st |odel: pure Al, simple cooling using fixed

values
 2nd |odel: pure Al, simple cooling using fixed
values, solidification
 3rd |odel: Al-Cu 5%, cooling using heat
transfer coefficient, solidification
ë
 !

 Started using
simulations with a wedge
 Axisymmetric properties
of wedge made it ideal
 Problem with geometry
of translating smaller
wedge to larger wedge
ë
 
º "  

 pure Al, simple cooling using fixed values,

solidification
 Pure Al, simple cooling using fixed values,
solidification, fluid flow
 Pure Al, simple cooling using fixed values from
only side mold wall, solidification, fluid flow
º 

 Cooling from sides and

bottom
 Notice liquid center (red)
and solidified region
(blue)
º 

 Cooling from side only

 Notice liquid center (red)
and solidified region
(blue)
 Note large different
between this and
previous plot
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#
§$
% 
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0 ' 

 Dr. Krane
 All the grad students that have helped me
when I¶m stuck in the lab
 Purdue