Cyclic melting and solidification of steel

A numerical investigation is conducted to study the effect of cyclic wall temperature on the melting and solidification of steel in a rectangular enclosure. The formulation is based on the fired-grid enthalpy method and the SIMPLE algorithm. It was found that the low-carbon steel shows a superior thermal behavior. In the steady-periodic situation the period of oscillations of the liquid curves and that of the wad temperature are equal, but the liquid curves are lagging in phase. This study also revealed the main flow features of the cyclic phase-change processes with and without the mushy region.