Open Access

Some Thermal Modulation Effects on Directional Solidification

E. A. Semma¹, M. El Ganaoui², V. Timchenko³, E. Leonardi³

1 LPM laboratory, University Hassan I, Facult´e des Sciences et Techniquesde settat, B.P. 577, Settat, Morocco.
2 SPCTS laboratory, UMR 6638 CNRS-Universit´e de Limoges, Facult´e des Sciences et Techniques 123, Albert Thomas 87060, Limoges, France. Correspondence author : ganaoui@unilim.fr
3 CFD laboratory, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New SouthWales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2006, 2(3), 191-202. https://doi.org/10.3970/fdmp.2006.002.191

Abstract

This paper deals with the investigation of thermovibrational convection induced by harmonic oscillations of the temperature boundary conditions related to the hot wall in a Bridgman-like (VB) geometrical configurations. Two different models of the VB configuration are considered (a simplified version referred to as "restricted" model and a more realistic and complete model with phase change allowed). The effects of temperature modulation are considered for both models and with regard to several possible initial (basic) states (stationary and oscillatory). In the restricted fluid cavity, we identify the existence of a critical frequency minimizing the flow intensity in the steady basic regime. In the periodic regime, the oscillation amplitude of the dynamic field can be controlled around a threshold frequency. In the full cavity, when the basic steady regime is considered, the average interface deformation is more affected under low frequency and high amplitude thermal modulation. For the quasi-periodic basic regime, the results show the existence of a modulation frequency band for which the flow is stabilized. This stability improvement depends on the thermal modulation amplitude.

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Keywords

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