Solidificationmeltingsource: a built-in fvoption in openfoam® for simulating isothermal solidification

Abstract

In this chapter, I introduce, document, and verify solidificationMelting-Source: a built-in fvOption in OpenFOAM® for simulating isothermal solidification. The main challenge in simulating isothermal solidification is the incorporation of movements of the solidification front. To overcome this challenge, solidification-MeltingSource adds source terms to the momentum and energy equations. First, I rigorously derive the equations for these source terms and outline their implementation in the source code. Then, I verify solidificationMeltingSource by simulating a well-known numerical benchmark for isothermal solidification. Finally, I end the chapter by suggesting possible future extensions for solidificationMeltingSource.