Experimental and numerical study of section restriction effects on filling behavior in low-pressure aluminum casting

The molten metal flow under low-pressure filling was investigated both experimentally and numerically inside sand molds with different cross sections and different pressure ramps. The proposed fluid dynamics simulation predicts quantitatively the observed filling oscillations. An analytical model is developed to link the over-height with the geometrical restriction and the pressure ramp. The calculated over-height is proportional to the ramp and non-linearly impacted by the section change as confirmed by the experimental results.