A hybrid numerical analysis of heat transfer and thermal stress in a solidifying body using FVM and FEM

A kind of hybrid numerical method, which can analyze the thermal stresses during a solidification process allowing natural convection in the melt and volume contraction caused by density change between solid and liquid phase, is developed and applied to the phase change process of pure aluminum in a confined rectangular mold. In this algorithm, the heat transfer analysis is performed by a finite volume method (FVM) and the thermal stress analysis in a solidifying body by a finite element method (FEM). The temperatures at the grid points calculated in the heat transfer analysis are transferred to those of Gauss points in elements by a bi-cubic surface patch technique for the thermal stress analysis. The present solutions are validated by comparison with the results of others. The effects of volume contraction due to solid - liquid density change and natural convection in the melt on the motion of the solid - liquid interface, temperature, velocity field and thermal stress are examined and reported.