Application of smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method in gravity casting shrinkage cavity prediction

Gravity casting has been applied extensively. Cavity will occur in the casting and form shrinkage cavity in solidification due to volume reduction and lowering of liquid metal level, which will affect casting quality. The formation process of shrinkage cavity cannot be directly observed and needs to be displayed by using the numerical simulation method. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is a pure Lagrange method with no grids and has now been applied in casting numerical simulation, but the prediction model of the shrinkage cavity in gravity casting solidification based on the SPH method has not been reported. In this paper, the mathematical model for temperature field (including latent heat treatment) and shrinkage cavity prediction in solidification is established based on the SPH method. The correctness for the temperature field (including latent heat treatment) is validated by computing temperature field in the solidification of an L-shaped aluminum alloy casting, and correctness for the prediction of shrinkage cavity is validated by computing the shrinkage cavity in the solidification of a cylindrical steel casting.