Numerical simulation of high pressure gas quenching of H13 steel

Aided by the computational fluid dynamics Software package FLUENT flow and heat-transfer model has been established to simulate the high pressure gas quenching process of a large H13 die. The complicate geometry mesh of finite volume method (FVM) simulation was exactly built according to the practical chamber set-up of vacuum furnace. The velocity and temperature distribution of gas, as well as the temperature field in H13 die, were obtained by simulation. The validation of simulation results has been carried out by comparing the simulated cooling curves of certain points inside the die with the measured ones. It can be found that the temperature depended thermal physical properties of gas and H13 die, such as thermal conductivity, specific heat and viscosity, have dramatic effects on the accuracy of simulation results. The possible improvement of the numerical simulation based on the detailed discussion is also elucidated. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.