Numerical simulation of centrifugal casting of pipes

A numerical simulation model for the horizontal centrifugal pipe casting process was developed with the commercial simulation package Flow3D. It considers - additionally to mass, energy and momentum conservation equations and free surface tracking - the fast radial and slower horizontal movement of the mold. The iron inflow is not steady state but time dependent. Of special importance is the friction between the liquid and the mold in connection with the viscosity and turbulence of the iron. Experiments with the mold at controlled revolution speeds were carried out using a high-speed camera. From these experiments friction coefficients for the description of the interaction between mold and melt were obtained. With the simulation model, the influence of typical process parameters (e.g. melts inflow, mold movement, melt temperature, cooling media) on the wall thickness of the pipes can be studied. The comparison to results of pipes from production shows a good agreement between simulation and reality.