SUPERCOMPUTER SIMULATION OF THE SOLIDIFICATION OF BINARY-ALLOYS

A numerical model capable of simulating the solidification of binary d endritic alloys and, in particular, the formation of a defect known as freckles, is presented. An algorithm based on a penalty and Petrov-Ga lerkin finite element formulation is used to solve the differential eq uations for the velocity field, temperature field, and concentration o f the solute. The demands for memory and CPU time require the use of s upercomputers to execute the simulations, even though only small 2-D d omains are considered, and the present code takes advantage of vectori zation. In order to simulate practical solidification scenarios, the a dvantages of parallel processing will have to be utilized to speed up the calculations.