DUAL RECIPROCITY BOUNDARY-ELEMENT METHOD FOR CONVECTIVE-DIFFUSIVE SOLID-LIQUID PHASE-CHANGE PROBLEMS, PART 2 - NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

A newly developed dual reciprocity boundary element method for solid-l iquid phase change problems has been verified in this paper. Tests inc lude numerical convergence studies for the transient Dirichlet jump pr oblem with and without phase change, and the steady-state convective-d iffusive problem with different material properties of the phases and phase change. Results are compared with the existing analytical soluti ons and with the results obtained by the finite volume and finite elem ent methods. Excellent agreement has been obtained. The method turns o ut to be robust over the whole broad spectrum of conducted numerical t ests. The axisymmetric problem of direct chill continuous casting, whe re nonuniform meshes have been applied, serves as a 'real' problem exa mple exhibiting nonlinear material properties, solidification over a t emperature interval, and nonlinear boundary conditions. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.