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Time‐dependent liquid metal flows with free convection and a deformable free surface
Author(s) -
McClelland Matthew A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.1650200702
Subject(s) - grashof number , marangoni effect , free surface , mechanics , prandtl number , laminar flow , galerkin method , combined forced and natural convection , natural convection , volume of fluid method , liquid metal , surface tension , convection , physics , materials science , finite element method , flow (mathematics) , turbulence , mathematics , thermodynamics , nusselt number , reynolds number , composite material
The finite element method is employed to investigate time‐dependent liquid metal flows with free convection, free surfaces and Marangoni effects. The liquid circulates in a two‐dimensional shallow trough with differentially heated vertical walls. The spatial formulation incorporates mixed Lagrangian approximations to the velocity, pressure, temperature and free surface position. The time integration is performed with the backward Euler and trapezoid rule methods with step size control. The Galerkin method is used to reduce the problem to a set of non‐linear equations which are solved with the Newton–Raphson method. Calculations are performed for conditions relevant to the electron beam vaporization of refractory metals. The Prandtl number is 0·015 and Grashof number are in the transition range between laminar and turbulent flow. The results reveal the effects of flow intensity, surface tension gradients, mesh refinement and time integration strategy.