An adaptive boundary element approach to transient free surface flow as applied to injection molding

An adaptive (Lagrangian) boundary element approach is proposed for the gene ral two-dimensional simulation of confined moving-boundary flow of viscous incompressible fluids. Only the quasi-steady creeping (Stokes) flow of a Ne wtonian fluid is examined. The method is stable as it includes remeshing ca pabilities of the deforming moving boundary, and thus it can handle large d eformations. An algorithm is developed for mesh refinement of the deforming moving-boundary mesh. Several flow problems are presented to illustrate th e utility of the approach, with particular emphasis on cavity filling and v iscous fingering, as applied to conventional and gas-assisted injection mol ding. The accuracy of the method is assessed through the problem of jet flo w and the transient fountain flow between two flat plates. Copyright (C) 20 00 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.