CFD-supported optimization of flow distribution in quench tank forheat treatment of A357 alloy large complicated components
(1. State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Friction Welding Technologies,
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China;
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China;
2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)
Abstract: The flow distribution in quench tank for heat treatment of A357 alloy large complicated components was simulated using FLUENT computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The flow velocity and the uniformity of flow field in two types of quench tanks (with or without agitation system) were calculated. The results show that the flow field in the quench tank without agitation system has not evident regularity. While as for the quench tank with agitation system, the flow fields in different parameters have certain regularity. The agitation tanks have a distinct advantage over the system without agitation. Proper process parameters were also obtained. Finally, the tank model established in this work was testified by an example from publication. This model with high accuracy is able to optimize the tank structures and can be helpful for industrial production and theoretical investigation in the fields of heat treatment of large complicated components.
Key words: A357 alloy; flow distribution; quench tank; computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation