Open Access

ARTICLE

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF DROPLET IMPACT AND SOLIDIFICATION INCLUDING THERMAL SHRINKAGE IN A THERMAL SPRAY PROCESS

Sina Alavi, Mohammad Passandideh-Fard^*

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

* Corresponding Author: Associate Professor, Email:

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2011, 2(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.v2.2.3007

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical study is performed to investigate the effects of thermal shrinkage on the deposition of molten particles on a substrate in a thermal spray process using the Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method. Thermal shrinkage is a phenomenon caused by the variation of density during cooling and solidification of a molten metal. The Navier-Stokes equations along with the energy equation including phase change are solved using a 2D/axisymmetric mesh. The VOF method is used to track the free surface of molten particles, and an enthalpy-porosity formulation is used to model solidification. For the normal impact of tin particles in the order of 2 mm in diameter and 1 m/s in impact velocity, the final splat had a single cavity inside due to shrinkage. For cases with the scales of a typical thermal spray process, the effect of shrinkage appeared as a reduction in the droplet splashing on the substrate.

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Keywords

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