Influence of random shrinkage porosity on equivalent elastic modulus of casting: A statistical and numerical approach

Shrinkage porosity is a type of random distribution defects and exists in most large castings. Different from the periodic symmetry defects or certain distribution defects, shrinkage porosity presents a random “cloud-like” configuration, which brings difficulties in quantifying the effective performance of defected casting. In this paper, the influences of random shrinkage porosity on the equivalent elastic modulus of QT400-18 casting were studied by a numerical statistics approach. An improved random algorithm was applied into the lattice model to simulate the “cloud-like” morphology of shrinkage porosity. Then, a large number of numerical samples containing random levels of shrinkage were generated by the proposed algorithm. The stress concentration factor and equivalent elastic modulus of these numerical samples were calculated. Based on a statistical approach, the effects of shrinkage porosity’s distribution characteristics, such as area fraction, shape, and relative location on the casting’s equivalent mechanical properties were discussed respectively. It is shown that the approach with randomly distributed defects has better predictive capabilities than traditional methods. The following conclusions can be drawn from the statistical simulations: (1) the effective modulus decreases remarkably if the shrinkage porosity percent is greater than 1.5%; (2) the average Stress Concentration Factor (SCF) produced by shrinkage porosity is about 2.0; (3) the defect’s length across the loading direction plays a more important role in the effective modulus than the length along the loading direction; (4) the surface defect perpendicular to loading direction reduces the mean modulus about 1.5% more than a defect of other position.