Simulation of Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer and Particle Transport Inside Open-Cell Foam Filters for Metal Melt Filtration

AbstractIn order to develop improved filters for metal melt filtration, different physical phenomena that take place during depth filtration of liquid metals need to be well understood. Due to the difficult accessibility of the process, the harsh process conditions and the randomness of the typically employed ceramic foam filters, representative experimental investigations are extremely difficult to perform and often provide only integral quantities or selective information. This chapter presents a numerical model for simulating the depth filtration of liquid metal at the pore-scale, i.e., fully resolving the complex filter geometry, which can also accurately handle the curved filter walls. In the model, the velocity and pressure distribution of the melt flow is obtained by the lattice-Boltzmann method and the temperature field is calculated using the finite volume method, while the transport and filtration of the inclusions are predicted by solving the equation of motion for particles in a Lagrangian reference frame. In order to obtain a consistent representation of the curved filter walls for both particle transport and fluid flow, the Euclidean distance field of the filter structures is employed. By comprehensive parametric studies, the sensitivity of the filtration process with respect to various geometric parameters and process conditions is investigated. Therefore, geometries of conventionally manufactured filters, acquired from 3D μCT scanning, as well as computer-generated filter structures are considered. Their performance is assessed by evaluating various effective properties, such as the viscous and inertial permeability and the filtration coefficient. The numerical predictions allow to draw conclusions with respect to the dominant physical mechanisms and are compared with those from simplified physical models, which are shown to be sufficiently accurate for the pre-screening of filters. On the basis of the detailed results, suggestions for improved filter geometries are made, depending on the considered filtration process. Further, simplified models for the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity of open-cell foams in presence and absence of radiation are presented and validated using the detailed numerical predictions.