Unified simulation of melt flow and solidification process using a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics based method witha thermoplastic-viscous-elastic material model

The numerical simulation of manufacturing processes involving molten materials requires an accurate description of melt flow, phase transitions, and the resulting geometry during solidification and cooling. The Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method has proven to be a promising approach for such problems, particularly when strong deformations and topological changes of the melt occur. As a mesh-free Lagrangian method, SPH allows a natural representation of free surfaces and evolving geometries.

However, the accurate modeling of density changes during solidification remains a major challenge, since these changes strongly influence the final geometry and the thermomechanical stresses developing during cooling.

To address this problem, we propose an extension of the SPH approach by integrating a thermoplastic-viscous-elastic material model. This unified formulation enables the consistent description of both liquid metal behavior and temperature-dependent thermomechanical properties, allowing the simulation of melt flow and solidification processes within a single framework.