Abstract:
This paper presents a coupled numerical study of the
thermal processes that occur in the vacuum induction furnace
with a cold crucible. In this furnace type, the high quality
metals like titanium are thermally processed. The perspective
aim of this work is to improve crucible structure to reduce the
skull volume on the basis of the validated numerical model. In
the developed code, the two-way coupling of the
electromagnetic and thermal phenomena is employed to mainly
predict the shape and temperature of the melt free surface. Both
these parameters were measured using contactless methods
with infrared and high-speed cameras. Moreover, the shape and
mass of the skull was also predicted and compared with the
experimental data. The numerical simulations were performed
for a repeating part of the full 3-D domain for three different
portions of the titanium charge. In the coupling transient
procedure, the electromagnetic submodel produced a field of
power losses generated within the molten metal space, while
the thermal model was responsible to generate the free surface
shape. The data transfer after each time step was performed
from the initial flat free surface until the monitored data
became constant as observed during the tests in the lab. The
results showed that compared shape and the temperature were
predicted with a quite satisfactory accuracy.
Description:
Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .
