ProCAST20100 Tutorials

ProCAST Tutorials
ProCAST Tutorials
-Version 2010.0-
Revised version (January 2009) - CL/PRCA/08/12/00/A
Version 2009.0 Page 1

ProCAST Tutorials
PROCAST TUTORIALS - VERSION 2010.0 1
TUTORIALS 3
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 4
FLOW CHART 4
MESHCAST 6
PRECAST 7
PROCAST 8
VIEWCAST 9
RESTART 10
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS 14
SYMMETRY 20
TIME STEPS 22
MATERIAL PROPERTIES 24
CASTING MATERIAL 25
EXOTHERMIC MATERIAL 28
FILTER MATERIAL 30
MOLD MATERIAL 30
THERMODYNAMIC DATABASES 32
CYCLING MODELLING 37
VIRTUAL MOLD 43
PROCESS TEMPLATES 48
HPDC-CYCLING 49
HPDC-FLOW 75
LPDC 86
GRAVITY-SAND 105
INVESTMENT 126
FILTER 148
STRESS 172
NON-COINCIDENT MODEL 190

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Tutorials

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General Introduction
ProCAST is a modular system and allows the coupling of various modules.
Flow Chart
Several steps are necessary in ProCAST in order
• to generate a FEM model,

• to setup the calculation,
• to run the analysis and finally,
• to interpret the results.
The following picture illustrates the flow chart of ProCAST.

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• Meshcast is the fully automatic 2D and 3D tetrahedral mesh generator of

ProCAST. It provides facilities for CAD reading, geometry quality checks and
repairs. An automatic shell generator is included in MeshCAST and is
especially dedicated to investment casting.
• PreCAST is the pre-processor of ProCAST and allows the user to read a finite
element model, to assign material properties to the different model components,
to set the interface and boundary conditions and to define the initial conditions.
• DataCAST compiles the settings and provides the necessary files for the
calculation.
• ProCAST runs the analysis.
• ViewCAST is the post-processor and allows the user to visualize the results as
ProSTAT reports the status of the calculation.
The user is guided through these different operation with the help of the file
manager (see below):

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MeshCAST
Meshcast is the fully automatic 2D and 3D tetrahedral mesh generator of ProCAST.

It provides facilities for CAD reading, geometry quality checks and repairs. An
automatic shell generator is included in MeshCAST and is especially dedicated to
investment casting.
Meshcast is interfaced with various CAD file formats. In addition to ProCAST

files, MeshCAST can read the following
• geometries: iges, step, parasolids and stl

• surface meshes: patran and ideas
• solid meshes: patran and ideas

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Usually the user will read a geometry and check its quality (the geometry will be
eventually repaired, simplified or improved). The surface mesh will be generated
and the solid mesh will be generated based on the surface mesh. The quality of the
solid mesh is checked and the solid mesh can be optimized.
The solid mesh is then ready to be read in PreCAST, the pre-processor of ProCAST.
PreCAST
PreCAST is the pre-processor of ProCAST and allows the user to read a finite
element model, to assign material properties to the different model components, to
set the interface and boundary conditions and to define the initial conditions.

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ProCAST
DataCAST compiles the settings and provides the necessary files for the
calculation.
ProCAST runs the analysis.

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ViewCAST
ViewCAST is the post-processor and allows the user to visualize and analyse the
results.

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Restart
The goal of this tutorial is to explain how to continue or restart a ProCAST

calculation.
The reason to restart a calculation is multiple:
It is important to remind that the *p.dat file contains run parameters information as
the *d.dat file contains calculation data as the material properties, the mesh
information, the boundary, interface and initial conditions.
A. NATURAL STOP:

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B. HARDWARE PROBLEM:
C. SOFTWARE & CONVERGENCE:

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D. CALCULATION INTERRUPTION (Ctrl C)
AS A SUMMARY:

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The -U option is available in the File Manager under Datacast:

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Boundary Conditions
In order to assign the boundary conditions, i.e. all conditions applied to the external
side of the model, the user will proceeded as follow:
Go in the Boundary Conditions menu.
Using the Add-> button, choose the required Boundary conditions for your
model.
Using the selection/deselection tools, select the area of the model where the
corresponding Boundary conditions will be applied.
Do not forget to save the selection of the area of the model.
The surface of the selected area is displayed. This is useful in order to know
the filling area and to calculate the right filling velocity.
Assign the right Boundary condition entry from the database
The Boundary condition database can be used, checked and enriched.
Let's detail the above items.
Go (1) in the Boundary Conditions menu. Press (2) Add -> in order to look for the
boundary conditions you need.

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Select in the Boundary Condition list the required BCs.
The selected BCs will be displayed in the top right table.
Use (3) the selection/deselection tools in order to select the area of the model where
the corresponding Boundary conditions will be applied. Do not forget to Store (4)
the selection.

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Please note that once you pressed the Store button (4), the surface of the selected
area is displayed (5). This is useful in order to know the filling area and to calculate
the right filling velocity. In the velocity Boundary condition type, you have a
velocity calculator tool based on the filling type and the inlet area:
Assign (6) then the right Boundary condition entry from the database (7).

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The database entry is then indicated in the top right table (DB Entry) of the
pre-processor interface.
The Boundary condition database (7) can be checked and enriched. The read button
allows the user to check the content of a Boundary condition. The Add-> button
allows the addition of a Boundary condition among the available list. It is also
possible to copy and modify an existing Boundary condition. The use of the Del
button will delete the selected entry. It is possible to sort the Boundary conditions
per Boundary type.

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Please note that some boundary conditions can be constant or time and/or
temperature dependent. In this case one has to be careful as the constant multiplies
the content of the table (if defined) and both tables multiplies each other.
The following picture is describing the selection/deselection icons.

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The heat flux through an interface is defined in ProCAST as follow.

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Symmetry
In order to optimize the calculation cpu time, one should take advantage of the
rotational or mirror symmetries of the geometry to be modeled.
In order to define the symmetry (axis of rotation or plane of symmetry), go in the

Geometry menu and press the Symmetry option.

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The axis of symmetry is defined with two points as the coordinates of three points
are necessary to define the plane of symmetry. In order to get the coordinates of the
symmetry, activate the 'Get Co-ord' button and click on the axis of symmetry nodes
or on the nodes of the symmetry plane. The cursor must be in the corresponding X1,
X2 or X3 coordinate input box.
Do not forget to press Apply once the axis or th plane of symmetry is defined.

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Time Steps

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Material Properties
The goal of this tutorial is to help the user with the definition of material properties
which are required for the different material types:
• mould
• sand mould in case of lost foam process
• filter
• casting for Newtonian flow
• casting for non-Newtonian flow (semi-solid infiltration)
• exothermic
As it is not always easy to have the material properties of multi-component alloys,

the user should take advantage of the Thermodynamic databases available with
ProCAST. Thermodynamic databases will provide the fraction of solid and
enthalpy curves and solidus and liquidus temperatures of the casting alloy based on
the alloy composition.
Most of the material properties are temperature dependent. Data can be entered as a
constant or can be tabulated.
In case the data are tabulated, a linear interpolation is applied between the defined
point and a horizontal (constant) extrapolation is applied (except for the enthalpy).

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Casting material
In order to perform a heat (with liquid to solid phase change) and fluid analysis in a
casting material, the following material properties are required (two possibilities):
A.
Thermal:
• Thermal conductivity [W/mK]
• Density [Kg/m3]
• Specific heat [J/KgK]
• Latent heat [J/Kg]
• Fraction of solid [-]
• Solidus and Liquidus temperatures [°C]
Fluid:
• Viscosity [centipoise]
B.
Thermal:

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• Density [Kg/m3]
• Enthalpy curve [J/Kg]
• Fraction of solid [-]
• Solidus and Liquidus temperatures [°C]
Fluid:
• Viscosity [centipoise]
Please note that in order to predict porosity, the density of the material must be
temperature dependent as shown below. The density change between solidus and
liquidus temperature will represent the shrinkage fraction during solidification.

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In case the fluid flow behavior is shear rate dependent (non-Newtonian), the user
can describe the viscosity as a function shear rate and temperature with the help of
the Carreau Yasuda relationship:
or with the Power Cut-off law:

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For the use of the Power Cut-off viscosity relationship, please see the Thixo casting
section of the main Users manual.
Exothermic material
An exothermic material is defined with the following thermal data:
Thermal:
• Density [Kg/m3]

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In order to take into account the energy released by the exothermic reaction, an
exothermic model is available in the material interface.
Select the Exothermic menu and enter:
• The burnt fraction as a function of time

• The ignition temperature
• The exothermic energy

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Filter material
In order to perform a heat and fluid flow analysis in a filter material, the following
material properties are required:
Thermal:
• Density [Kg/m3]
Fluid -> Filter:

• Void fraction [-]
• Specific Area [1/cm]
• Pressure drop (optional)
Mold material
In order to perform a heat analysis in a mold material, the following material

properties are required:
Thermal:

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• Density [Kg/m3]
In case of a sand mold for the Lost Foam process, the permeability of sand must be
defined under the Fluid section. The following material properties are thus
required:
Thermal:
• Density [Kg/m3]
Fluid -> Fluid Permeability:

• Permeability [cm2]

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Thermodynamic databases
In case of a binary alloy, it is not too difficult to extract the solidification path from
the corresponding phase diagram using a Lever or a Scheil relationship. But most of
the time, industrial casting alloys are composed of multi-element.
Let's compare the solidification behavior of two slightly different alloys in order to
illustrate the importance of having the right data.

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Thermodynamic databases are calculating the fraction of solid and enthalpy curves
and solidus and liquidus temperatures on the basis of the alloy composition.
The minimum of the Gibb's free energy curve (or the linear combination of two
curves) at temperature T will provide the stable phase diagram.

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In order to use the Thermodynamic databases, (1) click on the COMPOSITION

button, (2) enter the base element of the alloy and then (3) fill the composition table
in weight %.
(4) click then on apply and (5) select the Scheil or Lever rule.

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The available base systems are Al, Fe, Ni, Ti and Mg. The available alloying
elements are described in the "Databases/Thermodynamic Databases" section of
the main Users manual.

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Cycling modelling

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In PreCAST there are two techniques to model cycling: A. the Standard method and
B. the Die Combo technique. This appears in the Interfaces menu when one want to
Add-> a new interface condition. The Standard or Die Combo technique choice is
here proposed.
The first technique consists of the modeling of the different cycling sequences with
the help of time dependent interface heat transfer coefficients and heat boundary
conditions.

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This classical technique has the advantage of offering all flexibility and is able to
model any situation. However in case of process optimization, it can be quite
tedious to change all tabulated interface heat transfer coefficients and heat
boundary conditions if the cycling timing has to be changed.
The Die Combo technique facilitate the cycling modeling through the use of
dedicated interfaces.

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The different cycle times are directly entered in the Run Parameter Cycles menu.
And the interface heat transfer coefficient and heat boundary conditions are directly
entered in the Die Combo interface.

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Once such a cycling calculation (thermal only) was done, it is interesting to extract
the distribution of the mold temperature and to use it as initial temperature for a
filling or stress analysis.
Just copy and rename the *d.dat and *p.dat files. Open PreCAST and modify the
settings in order to model a filling (Fluid Flow) or stress analysis.
In order to extract the temperature distribution, go in the Extract option of the Initial
Conditions menu of PreCAST.
Using the Browse button, look for the Cycling (thermal only) calculation and set the
Step number at which the temperature distribution will be extracted.

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Virtual Mold
The virtual mold should be used in order to save cpu time. The thermal aspect of the
mold is taken into account (heat diffusion, local heating, heat saturation) but as the
mold is not meshed, the user cannot visualize the temperature distribution in the
mold.
Please note that a zero velocity Boundary condition should be set to the surface of
the casting in case the virtual mold is used.
The virtual mold is defined in the Geometry menu.
Enter the dimensions of the virtual mold. Please make sure that the virtual mold will
include the complete casting geometry. As the external boundary of the virtual
mold is considered as adiabatic (no heat exchange), the size of the virtual mold
should be set large enough. Using the Check Geom option you can have the
external dimension of the geometry. This helps to define the size of the virtual
mold.
Press Apply in order to generate the virtual mold.

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The calculated thermal depth can be displayed using the Show Depth button and the
scale of the thermal depth can be adjusted using the Set Scale button. It is also
possible to remove the virtual mold.

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The mold material is now displayed in the Material menu and material properties
can be assigned to the virtual mold.

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An interface heat transfer coefficient has to be defined between the casting and the
mold.
And an initial temperature has to be defined for casting and mold.

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Process templates
The goal of these tutorials is to help the user with the typical settings and run
parameters. The coupling of Thermal and Fluid flow modules allows the user to
model any process, i.e. gravity casting, sand casting, high pressure die casting, low
pressure die casting, investment casting ... But each process requires some specific
settings.
Basically the user will set in Precast:
• GEOMETRY: a solid mesh
• MATERIALS: a casting and mold material
• INTERFACE: an interface heat transfer coefficient between casting and mold
• BOUNDARY CONDITIONS: a heat and pouring conditions
• PROCESS: a gravity vector and moving solids
• INITIAL CONDITIONS: initial temperatures and the casting cavity will be set
as empty
• RUN PARAMETERS: general, heat, cycling, radiation, flow and turbulence
Please note that the user is able to use predefined templates for the run parameters,
i.e. the parameters for the process of interest can be defined only once at the
beginning.

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HPDC-Cycling
The goal of this tutorial is to show you step by step how to setup a high pressure die
casting model in ProCAST.
The geometry used for this tutorial is composed of a:
• casting
• top die
• bottom die
• insert
• meshed cooling channels
• unmeshed cooling channels

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The goal here is to run first a thermal analysis with several cycles in order to predict
the number of necessary cycles to reach steady state. In a second step, the
temperature distribution of the mold components will be used as initial temperature
for a fluid flow or stress analysis.
In this tutorials both options for the cooling channels are considered: meshed and
not meshed channels. The goal is to illustrate the set-up of both options.
The interfaces will be treated with the Diecombo technique.
Load the hpdc.mesh model in PreCAST

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Enter first the case name under the 'Case' field of the file manager and press the
PreCAST menu.
PreCAST will load first a ProCAST file (d.dat) if it is present in the current
directory. If PreCAST does not find any ProCAST file, it will look for a
MeshCAST file (.mesh) with the corresponding prefix. And if there is no
MeshCAST file, you will have to use the Open file menu of PreCAST in order to
look for the right file.

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Check the geometry
PreCAST indicates automatically the number of materials, the total number of

nodes and of elements. The units and the global size of the model are shown.
These information and the volume of the different components are available in the
File menu -> Check geometry options.
Assign material properties to the casting, mold and inserts. In this case,
Aluminium is assigned to the casting material, Steel H13 to the top and bottom dies
and to the insert and water is assigned to the meshed cooling channels.

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Please note that the temperature of the casting material will be re-initialized before
each cycle as the temperature of the mold components at cycle N-1 will be taken

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into account for cycle N. It is therefore important to set the right Material type for
each component.
Create and Assign the Interfaces between the components
In this case all interfaces have to be converted from EQUIV to COINC. In order to
validate this choice, press the Apply button.

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• Bottom Die - Cooling channels (Standard interface):
Between the bottom die and the meshed cooling channels, a constant heat transfer
coefficient of 2000 W/m2K will be set.

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• Die - Die interface (Diecombo):
Between the top die and a bottom die a diecombo interface will be set.

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• Bottom Die - Insert interface (Diecombo):
Between the bottom die and the insert, a diecombo interface is assigned with a heat
transfer coefficient of 1000W/m2K.

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• Bottom Die - Casting interface (Diecombo):
• Top Die - Casting interface (Diecombo):

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Please note that the casting will be 'attached until ejection' to the top die.
• Top Die - Insert interface (Diecombo):

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• Casting - Insert interface (Diecombo):

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Assign the Boundary conditions
Air cooling condition will be assigned to the external surface of the mould

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Heating channels (200°C) will be assigned to the surfaces of the non-meshed

channels using a heat transfer coefficient off 2000W/m2K and an external

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temperature of 200°C. The inner surface of the non-meshed channels are selected
using the propagate selection tool.
An imposed temperature of 20°C is applied all around the meshed cooling

channels.

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Set the gravity
In order to set the gravity vector, go in the Process menu.
Set the constant Initial conditions

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Set the run parameters
In the Preferences menu, select the hpdc Cycling option. The right and dedicated
run parameters will be automatically set.

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Save and Exit PreCAST

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Run DataCAST and ProCAST
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Visualize the results in ViewCAST

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HPDC-Flow
The goal of this tutorial is to show you step by step how to setup a high pressure die
• casting
• top die
• bottom die
• insert
• meshed cooling channels
• unmeshed cooling channels
The goal here was first to run a thermal analysis with several cycles in order to
predict the number of necessary cycles to reach steady state. In a second step, the
temperature distribution of the mold components will be used as initial temperature
for a fluid flow or stress analysis.
In this tutorials we are going to extract the die temperature distribution of

HPDC-Cycling in order to use it as initial temperature.
Load the hpdcd.dat model in PreCAST

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Create a new calculation directory and copy from your hpdc-cycling directory the
hpdcd.dat and hpdcp.dat files.
Load in PreCAST the hpdcd.dat file:

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Modification of the data
• MATERIALS: the casting material is set as empty, but the same properties will
be used
• INTERFACES: no modifications compared to the HPDC-cycling case, the same

Diecombo interfaces will be used
• BOUNDARY CONDITIONS: an imposed temperature and velocity is applied

on the casting inlet.

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• PROCESS: no modifications, the same gravity vector is used
• INITIAL CONDITIONS: the extract procedure is applied on the top die, bottom
die and insert domains

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The temperature distribution at the beginning of cycle number 10 will be

considered. In ViewCAST or in the hpdcp.out file it can be determined that this
time corresponds to step 765. Using the Browse tool, you can look for the
HPDC-Cycling directory where the temperature results of the cycling calculation
are.

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The temperature distribution can be displayed in order to check that the extract
procedure worked.

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• RUN PARAMETERS: General and Thermal are not modified, The number of
Cycles is set to 1 and Flow is set to 3. The frequency for saving the velocity
results (FLOW) is set equal to TFREQ (frequency for saving the temperature
results).

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Save and Exit

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Run the calculation
Visualize the results
Please note that at step zero, the temperature of the die is not uniform as we used the
calculated temperature distribution obtained before cycle ten in the HPDC-cycling
calculation.

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LPDC
The goal of this tutorial is to show step by step how to setup a low pressure die

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• casting
• left and right side dies
• top and bottom cores
Load the lpdcd.dat model in PreCAST

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Enter first the case name under the 'Case' field of the file manager and press the
PreCAST menu.

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Check the geometry

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Define the symmetry plane

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Assign material properties to the casting, mold and cores. In this case,
Cu-Aluminium Bronze is assigned to the casting material, Steel_H13 to both parts
of the dies and Sand_Silica to the core domains.
In this case all interfaces are COINC. In case the model would have EQUIV
interfaces, they should be converted from EQUIV to COINC. In order to validate
this choice, do not forget to press the Apply button.

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Once the interfaces are created, assign a heat transfer value to each interface.
Typical values are 500 W/m2K between casting and cores and 1000 W/m2K
between casting and steel dies.

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A natural air cooling heat Boundary condition will be applied all around the dies
and a pressure Boundary condition together with a temperature Boundary condition
will be imposed at inlet of the gating system.
Please note that the simulation model might have a different height compared to the
current casting if the full filling column was not taken into account in the simulation
model. In such a case the pressure ramp should be shifted accordingly.
Please also note that the pressure which is applied to the inlet for the filling
sequence will be the difference between the reference pressure which will be
defined in the run parameters and this pressure BC. In this case where a total
pressure of 0.2 bar is applied, a zero reference pressure will be defined in the
FLOW run parameters.
Set the gravity

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In the Preferences menu, select the LPDC filling option. The right and dedicated

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Gravity-Sand
This tutorial will guide you step by step in the ProCAST set-up of a sand casting
simulation.
• casting
• sand box
• cores

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Load the sand.mesh model in PreCAST
Please enter first the case name under the 'Case' field of the file manager and press
the PreCAST menu.

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Check the geometry


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Assign material properties to the casting, mold and cores. In this case,
Ductile Iron is assigned to the casting material, Sand silica to the mold and
Steel_H13 to the core domains.

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Once the interfaces are created, assign a heat transfer value to each interface.
Typical values are 500 W/m2K between casting and sand and 1000 W/m2K
between casting and steel cores.

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A natural air cooling heat Boundary condition will be applied all around the sand
box, a velocity Boundary condition will be applied and a temperature Boundary
condition will be imposed to some nodes of the top surface of the down sprue.

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Set the gravity

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In the Preferences menu, select the Gravity filling option. The right and dedicated

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In the General run parameters panel, DTMAX is set to 5 seconds in this case.

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In the Thermal run parameters panel, TFREQ is set to 5 here.

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In the Flow run parameters panel, VFREQ is set to 5 (equal to TFREQ).

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Do not forget to press Apply in order to validate the Run Parameters selection.
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Position the model using the picture manipulation tools (zoom, drag, rotate, ...).

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Select the casting material.
Visualization of the flow behavior using the 'tape player' buttons.

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Analysis of the velocity vectors. Possible mold erosion can be studied.

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Temperature map in a cross section through the total model:
Isolated pockets of liquid are displayed using the Fraction of Solid cut-off option.

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Investment
The goal of this tutorial is to show you step by step how to setup an investment
• casting
• a shell mold
• an enclosure
• Remark: It is possible to model the preheating of the shell mold in the furnace
using the same model as the one for fluid flow modeling. The temperature
distribution of the shell mold is then used as initial condition for the fluid flow
calculation using the extract procedure. To do so:

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Load the investment.mesh model in PreCAST
the PreCAST menu.

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If this Case name is not entered, you will have to go in the File menu of PreCAST
and open the right file.
Check the geometry


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Please note that there is an enclosure for the radiation calculation.

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Definition of the symmetry planes
Two mirrors of symmetry will be considered here. The Get Co-ord button is useful
to pick the node coordinates on the planes of symmetry.
You can check that the symmetry was well applied if the symmetry is set in the
Boundary conditions.

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Assign material properties to the casting and shell mold.

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Inconel 718 and a shell material are applied to the casting and shell mold.

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Assign the interface heat transfer coefficient

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In addition to the symmetry Boundary condition, a heat transfer coefficient with

View Factors ON will be applied on the surface of the shell. Velocity and
temperature will be applied to the top surface of the downsprue.

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• Remarks:

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A temperature and emissivity has to be applied to the enclosure (Boundary

conditions ->Assign Enclosure).

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Check that the normals of the enclosure are all pointing inside the enclosure. In case
it is not the case, use the Align or Reverse options.

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Set the gravity

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• Useful tip:

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• Filling results (temperature map)

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• Temperature distribution during solidification
• Symmetry re-construction in the Post-processor

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• Cross section (temperature map)

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• Prediction of pockets of liquid using the fraction of solid field and the cut-off
option
Filter
This tutorial will guide you step by step in the ProCAST set-up of a sand casting
simulation with a filter material.
• casting
• filter
• chill
A virtual mold will be generated for the sand mold.

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This geometry will also allow the illustration of symmetry settings.
Load the filter.mesh model in PreCAST
the PreCAST menu.

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Check the geometry


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Symmetry definition

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In order to define the coordinates of the two points which are defining the axis of
symmetry, press the 'Get Co-ord' button and then click with the mouse on a mesh
points located on the axis of symmetry.
You can check that the symmetry boundary conditions are well set. Go in the
Boundary conditions menu and check that you have the symmetry well defined.
Virtual Mold generation
Check first the global size of the model.

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Generate a virtual mold larger than the model. The virtual mold has to be large
enough as the external boundary of the virtual mold is considered as adiabatic.
You can then visualize the thermal depth.

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Assign material properties
Please note that the virtual mold will be taken into account and you have thus to
assign material properties to the mold.

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A filter material is assigned to the filter.

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In addition to the thermal conductivity, the density and the specific heat, a filter is
defined by its Void Fraction and Surface Area (it is also possible to define the
Pressure Drop properties - optional).
In this case only the interface between the chill and casting has to be converted from
EQUIV to COINC. It is important to note that no interface between the casting and
the filter is created. One should thus leave the EQUIV interface type between
casting and filter. In order to validate this choice, press the Apply button.

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Assign then heat transfer coefficients between the chill and the casting and between
all components and the virtual mold. Please note that no heat transfer coefficient is

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defined between the casting and the filter. This will be defined in the Assign
Volume Boundary Conditions menu.
Assign the Boundary Conditions
The symmetry Boundary condition was automatically set as symmetry was defined
previously.

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A zero velocity Boundary condition has to be applied all around the casting as no
coincident meshed mold is considered. A velocity Boundary condition and an
imposed temperature are applied to the top of the gating system.

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The interface heat transfer coefficient is defined in the Assign Volume -> Filter
Heat condition.

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Set the gravity
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Define the Initial Conditions

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Set the Run Parameters

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In the General run parameters panel, DTMAX is set to 5 seconds and TSTOP is set
to1000°C in this case. This means that the calculation will be stopped as soon as the
casting domain temperature is below 1000°C.

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Stress
This tutorial will guide you step by step in the ProCAST set-up of a stress model.
• casting
• die

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Load the stress.mesh model in PreCAST
the PreCAST menu.

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PreCAST indicates automatically the number of materials, the total number

of nodes and of elements. The units and the global size of the model are shown.

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Assign material properties to the casting and mold materials.

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And assign the corresponding stress properties.

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Assign the Interfaces between the components. Please note that the mesh
was already optimized in MeshCAST and thus the interfaces are already created
(they are already set as COINC).
An interface heat transfer coefficient of 1000W/m2K is selected in the database and

assigned between the casting and the dies and between top and bottom die.

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A natural air cooling heat Boundary condition is assigned all around the die and a
zero displacement Boundary condition is applied to the top and bottom surface of
the die.

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Set the gravity

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Please be careful to set PIPEFS to zero.
Do not forget to press Apply in order to validate the Run Parameters selection.
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Temperature results:

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Effective stress results:
Y-Displacements:

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Hot tearing prediction:

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Non-Coincident model
This tutorial will guide you step by step in the ProCAST set-up of a non-coincident
model.
We can use non-coincident meshes in ProCAST. This facilitates the assembly of the
different model components but you need to be careful as in such a case the
interfaces between the components are defined according to a tolerance. If all
components are well positioned and the mesh densities are not too different, the
thermal or flow predicted results will be good. But one should thus run a thermal
calculation first and check if the temperature distribution is correct. If the interfaces
are not good, i.e. not within the tolerance (1/10 of the smallest element length), then
one won't have heat exchange at some interfaces. It is then possible to change this
tolerance value. The above test procedure has then to be run again.
If you run a fluid flow analysis with a non-coincident model, do not forget to assign
a zero velocity boundary condition all around the casting.
• casting
• sand mold
Load the different mesh components, c1.mesh, m1.mesh and m2.mesh.

ProCAST Tutorials
No prefix is entered in this case in the file manager (Case field) as you are going to
load the models using the Multiple Mesh option in the File menu

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Check the geometry

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Assign material properties to the casting and to both mold sides

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One coincident interface was recognized in this case (even if both models are not
coincident) between both mold components because one element is most probably
exactly coincident on each mold side.
In case of a non-coincident model one has to turn the coincident interface type in
non-coincident and add the other non-coincident interfaces. Please note that the
casting is the Master and the Mold is the Slave.

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Do not forget to Apply the non-coincident interfaces and to assign an interface heat
transfer coefficient between the different interfaces.

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As a summary the boundary conditions are:
• Heat: air cooling all around the mould

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• Velocity: zero velocity all around the casting (this necessary in case of a
no-coincident mold, in case of virtual mold or in case there is no mold)
• Velocity: -y velocity at the top of the downsprue.
• Temperature: Pouring temperature of the metal assigned at the top of the
downsprue.
Set the gravity

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Revised version (January 2009) - CL/PRCA/08/12/00/A

Version 2009.0 Page 1

PROCAST TUTORIALS - VERSION 2010.0 1

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ProCAST is a modular system and allows the coupling of various modules.

Several steps are necessary in ProCAST in order

• to generate a FEM model,

The following picture illustrates the flow chart of ProCAST.

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• Meshcast is the fully automatic 2D and 3D tetrahedral mesh generator of

• ProCAST runs the analysis.

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Meshcast is the fully automatic 2D and 3D tetrahedral mesh generator of ProCAST.

Meshcast is interfaced with various CAD file formats. In addition to ProCAST

• geometries: iges, step, parasolids and stl

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ProCAST runs the analysis.

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The goal of this tutorial is to explain how to continue or restart a ProCAST

The reason to restart a calculation is multiple:

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C. SOFTWARE & CONVERGENCE:

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D. CALCULATION INTERRUPTION (Ctrl C)

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The -U option is available in the File Manager under Datacast:

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Go in the Boundary Conditions menu.

Do not forget to save the selection of the area of the model.

Assign the right Boundary condition entry from the database

The Boundary condition database can be used, checked and enriched.

Let's detail the above items.

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Select in the Boundary Condition list the required BCs.

The selected BCs will be displayed in the top right table.

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The following picture is describing the selection/deselection icons.

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The heat flux through an interface is defined in ProCAST as follow.

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In order to define the symmetry (axis of rotation or plane of symmetry), go in the

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As it is not always easy to have the material properties of multi-component alloys,

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• Thermal conductivity [W/mK]

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or with the Power Cut-off law:

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An exothermic material is defined with the following thermal data:

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Select the Exothermic menu and enter:

• The burnt fraction as a function of time

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