Truchas – a multi-physics tool for casting

simulation
D. A. Korzekwa
The Truchas code was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory under the Advanced
Simulation and Computing Program. This open source multi-physics simulation software is
designed to run in a scalable parallel computing environment. The capabilities of the code and
numerical implementation are briefly described. The advantages and limitations of large three
dimensional simulations will be discussed, and two example simulations are shown that
demonstrate the utility of the fluid flow, heat transfer, phase change and solid mechanics
capabilities. Validation of a code such as Truchas is a difficult task because of the complexity of
the coupling between different physical phenomena being modelled and the poor understanding
of phenomena such as heat transfer across interfaces. The challenges associated with verification
and validation of complex simulation tools and integration into the design process are also
discussed.
Keywords: Casting simulation, Parallel computing, Solidification processes

The truchas code
History and overview
Truchas1 is a multi-physics computer code that has been
produced as part of a program to develop software to
take advantage of massive parallel computing clusters.
As a consequence, much of the development has
involved the use or implementation of relatively new
numerical methods and communication protocols. The
early work on the code focussed on new fluid flow
algorithms for multiphase flow with free surfaces.2
Coupling the fluid flow with heat transfer and phase
change allowed Truchas users to address applications
such as casting. Because of the emphasis on parallel
computing, iterative solvers are used in Truchas. The
communication between processors uses the Message
Passing Interface (MPI). Various iterative solvers have
been implemented and evaluated over the course of the
project, including Krylov subspace methods for linear
systems,3 Jacobian-free Newton–Krylov,4 and acceler-
ated inexact Newton.5
Recent development has concentrated on capabilities
that are most useful for vacuum induction casting of
uranium and plutonium using graphite moulds. The
current version of Truchas has capabilities for fluid flow,
enthalpy conduction and advection, phase change,
thermal radiation with view factors, small strain
elastic-viscoplastic solid mechanics with small displace-
ment contact, and electromagnetic joule heating of
cylindrical domains. The choice of boundary conditions
and material models include common simplifications
used for material processing.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Box 1663, Mail Stop G770, Los Alamos,
NM 87544, USA, email dak@lanl.gov
Truchas has support for the Exodus6 file format for
the mesh description and collections of mesh faces (side
sets) used for boundary conditions. Boundary condi-
tions are not defined in the mesh file. A Python post-
processing package is distributed with Truchas that
supports several file formats for visualisation software.
Physics capabilities
All of the physics capabilities can use the same
unstructured hexahedral mesh for discretisation. There
are currently two diffusion algorithms available for heat
conduction. The original method is based on a finite
volume discretisation, but this method is being replaced
by a mimetic finite difference method that is well suited
to elliptic problems on general polygonal meshes.7 The
new diffusion solver will allow diffusion of multiple
chemical species concurrently with enthalpy conduction.
The enthalpy solution couples conduction, advection
based on the fluid velocity field and phase change with
latent heat terms. Volumetric source terms can be
specified for welding or heating element specification
as well as joule heating terms from the induction heating
model. The phase change models can be used with or
without phase diagram information. Simple binary
alloys are modelled using the treatment by Clyne and
Kurtz.8 An implementation of the Rappaz–Thévoz9
model is available for nucleation and grain growth.
The fluid flow algorithm can model incompressible
flow of multiple materials and with a Boussinesq
buoyancy treatment. The volume tracking algorithm
used a piecewise linear interface reconstruction algo-
rithm.2 Models for viscous stress, porous drag, algebraic
turbulence and surface tension are available, but not all
features are robust on unstructured meshes or when
coupled with other physics.

ß 2009 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd.

Received 17 June 2008; accepted 12 September 2008
DOI 10.1179/136404609X367641 International Journal of Cast Metals Research 2009 VOL 22 NO 1–4 187
Korzekwa Truchas – a multi-physics tool for casting simulation
1 a Model for fuel rod casting - 120u segment showing half of two rods from a mould designed to cast 3 rods, and b a
60u segment of a filling simulation
Radiative heat transfer can be modelled using a view
factor representation based on the mesh cell faces that
are on material boundaries. This allows the geometric
complexity of the furnace environment to be modelled,
which is very important in a vacuum environment with
conductive mould materials such as graphite. The
Chaparral code10 is used to calculate the view factor
matrix and the heat fluxes are calculated at each time
step by Truchas.
The induction heating model applies electromagnetic
boundary conditions for circular coils on a cylindrical
tetrahedral mesh containing the mould and furnace
components that are heated by the coil. Currently there
are limitations to the geometries that can be specified for
this approximation. The output of the electromagnetic
model is a joule power field that is mapped onto the heat
transfer mesh.
The solid mechanics module uses a hybrid finite
element finite volume algorithm to solve the thermo-
elastic equations for equilibrium with optional plastic
strain evolution using simple viscoplastic material
models. The formulation is currently limited to small
strains and rotations. A contact algorithm allows small
normal and tangential displacements between solid
bodies. In many cases this formulation is adequate for
simulating the distortion and gap formation of the
mould and cast part during cooling in the solid state.
Typical Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions
are available for all of the physics packages, such as
constant temperature or fluxes specified on geometric
surfaces or lists of faces. Thermal radiation can be
specified using view factors or simple radiation to a
constant temperature. Heat transfer coefficients can be
specified at internal mesh boundaries. The solid
mechanics boundary conditions can be specified in
global coordinates or local coordinates normal to the
cell face.
Most material properties can be temperature depen-
dent by specifying a polynomial form. The plasticity
model can be easily modified to use any relationship
where strain rate is a function of stress and temperature.
Currently the user can specify a simple power law or a
simplified version of the mechanical threshold stress
model.11 Since the strains must be small, there is no
work hardening.
188 International Journal of Cast Metals Research 2009
Example applications of truchas
Mould filling – casting of metallic nuclear fuel
The first example is a mould filling simulation for a
casting process to produce uranium alloy rods for use as
nuclear fuel. The graphite mould and crucible are
induction heated to melt the charge and preheat the
mould. Figure 1 shows the geometry of the mould and
plot from a 60u filling model using Truchas. The mould
cavity is evacuated, and the atmosphere in the furnace is
argon gas at a gauge pressure of 0?6 kPa, resulting in a
pressure difference between the top of the charge in the
crucible and the evacuated mould of <1?6 kPa.
The filling of the mould was modelled using a mesh
representing a 60u segment of the mould and crucible.
The mesh has 569344 cells, and the filling simulation
runs in approximately 24 hours on 128 AMD Opteron
processors. Properties for uranium–10% zirconium alloy
were used for the metal. The problem was started with
the stopper rod in the crucible in the retracted position
and 1?6 kPa pressure on the top surface of the crucible.
The argon gas is modelled as an incompressible fluid
with the same density and heat capacity as argon at
standard temperature and pressure. This simulation has
fluid flow, heat transfer and phase change active, and the
heat transfer coefficient between the metal and mould is
set to a value (1000 W m21 K21) that is appropriate
when there is a ceramic coating on the graphite.
The filling results for the original mould design
indicated that the molten metal circulates and stays in
the inlet area for a relatively long time before substantial
filling of the rod cavity occurs. Because of this, the
crucible empties and the argon gas enters the rod
portion of the mould, further delaying the filling and
requiring the gas to float out of the rod mould to
complete the filling. Although very little solidification is
observed during filling for the cases where a mould
coating is assumed, this flow pattern is not optimum.
Even with a mould coating, this casting process design
will result in fairly rapid solidification of the rod, with
the mould material providing enough heat capacity to
solidify the rod without any heat transfer external to the
mould. It is therefore highly desirable to have rapid
complete filling of the mould. The Truchas model was
modified to reduce the volume of the mould cavity
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2 Filling model comparing the original mould design to the modified mould with reduced volume
above the rod to try to improve the filling behavior.
Figure 2 shows a comparison of the filling behavior of
the original mould and the design with a reduced inlet
volume. The results indicate that reducing the volume
will substantially improve the mould design.
Solid state phase change and residual stress
The second example simulation is a solid state cooling
simulation for a casting process to produce plutonium
metal rods approximately 254 mm long by 17 mm
diameter. The mould is shown in Figure 3. Also shown
in Figure 3 is a plot illustrating the relatively large
volume changes associated with the four allotropic
phase changes that unalloyed plutonium exhibits during
cooling from the melting point to room temperature.
These large changes in volume produce substantial
distortion and stress in the metal and mould, and the
purpose of the simulation was to estimate their
magnitude. It was observed that the graphite mould
always fractured at some point during the process.
While this is not surprising, it was hoped that the
simulations would confirm that the fracture occurred
late enough in the process to avoid any quality or safety
issues.
In addition to the thermal and elastic properties of the
graphite and plutonium phases, a model for the
viscoplastic behaviour of the Pu metal was required. In
some cases these properties had to be estimated. The
model predicted that the maximum stress in the mould
occurred just before the rods transformed from the d to c
3 a Volume changes associated with phase changes in Pu; b Mesh for solid state cooling simulation of Pu rod casting
International Journal of Cast Metals Research
Korzekwa Truchas – a multi-physics tool for casting simulation
phase, and that the fracture most likely occurs after the
casting has cooled to a safe temperature. Figure 4 shows
results at a time where the transformation from e to d
is partially complete. The phase change strain plot
indicated which portions of the rods have transformed.
The e to d phase change generally resulted in the rod
expanding against the mould, but the e phase has very
low strength at that temperature, so the stresses are quite
small at this time.
Discussion - verification and validation
The degree to which simulations correspond to the
physical reality of the processes that are being
modelled can be difficult to assess. In order for
simulations to be credible, some degree of verification
and validation must be performed. The term verifica-
tion usually refers to the process of verifying that the
calculation solves the equations used to describe the
physics of the problem accurately. Truchas, as for
most simulation packages, includes a suite of test
problems that exercise many modules of the code and
run simple simulations that have analytical solutions.
However, it is difficult to cover all capabilities in this
manner, and many coupled physics combinations are
hard to test with a known solution.
To gain confidence in geometrically complex coupled
simulations, it is necessary to collect data from experi-
ments or production processes and compare them to the
simulation results. Various studies of this type have been
2009 VOL 22 NO 1–4 189
Korzekwa Truchas – a multi-physics tool for casting simulation
a temperature; b phase change strain or linear dilatation; c gap locations between the metal and mould; d [x,x] compo-
nent of the elastic stress
4 Results for solid state cooling simulation of Pu rod casting
conducted for the Truchas code,12–14 but there are many
aspects of these simulations that are difficult to validate.
Realistically complex models of material processes
include boundary conditions and material properties
that are approximations based on models that do not
incorporate enough physics to be predictive. Examples
are heat transfer coefficients, friction and constitutive
models for metal plasticity. Often the simulation results
depend very strongly on the parameters that are
associated with these models.
Experiments designed specifically to help validate
Truchas have used several different techniques:
N Thermocouples in the mould and/or metal
N Video recording of flow of water or gallium in
transparent moulds
N Load cells recording the weight of the liquid entering
the mould
N Gap sensors between the mould and metal to
determine when and where gaps are present
Truchas also has the capability to calculate the
sensitivity of the results to some of the thermal
boundary conditions and material properties. These
sensitivities can help assess the reliability of the
simulation results.
The simulations presented in this paper are examples
of problems that are very difficult to validate. The flow
behaviour in the rod mould is not directly observable,
and the stresses and distortions are not directly
measurable. Nevertheless, the simulation results are
consistent with observations for these processes, and
previous validation experiments have provided some
confidence in the general accuracy of the code and
choice of boundary conditions. Thus an experienced
user of Truchas or other simulation tool can gain insight
into the relative importance of various parameters and
their quantitative effects for complex casting processes.
Summary
Truchas has proved to be a useful simulation tool for
vacuum induction casting at Los Alamos, and the
Telluride project has made other contributions to the
190 International Journal of Cast Metals Research 2009 VOL
field of coupled physics computation on parallel
computing platforms. Quantitative validation of large
three dimensional calculations is challenging, and is
often limited by assumptions concerning boundary
conditions and material properties. The examples
presented in this article show applications of Truchas
to problems that are difficult to validate. However, the
simulations provided valuable insight to the processes
and tangible benefits to the projects that use these
casting processes.
Acknowledgements
The Truchas code represents the work of many people at
Los Alamos National Laboratory, funded primarily by
the Advanced Simulation and Computing program
under the United States Department of Energy.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative
action/equal opportunity employer, is operated by Los
Alamos National Security, LLC, for the National
Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S.
Department of Energy under contract DE-AC52-
06NA25396.
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