[Lang]

Hello everyone,

I am a newbie to OpenFoam programming. Currently, there is a challenge I'm facing in building a two-material continuous casting simulation (picture on the first page of this PDF for reference https://kupfer.de/fileadmin/user_upl...FA_Mittler.pdf)

The simulation involves four phases: two liquid phases (melts) and two solid phases. I initially attempted to use the "icoReactingMultiphaseInterFoam" solver, but I encountered an issue. The solver doesn't support moving the solid phase, which is crucial for pulling the strand. By browsing through the source code I found that the available phase models are:
- pureMovingPhaseModel
- pureStaticPhaseModel
- pureStaticSolidPhaseModel
- multiComponentMovingPhaseModel.
All of them do not meet my requirements. What I would need is a "pureMovingSolidPhaseModel".
I considered blending the available phase models to achieve a "pureMovingSolidPhaseModel," but I realized that it led me into a complex web of classes that I struggle to navigate in.

During my research, I came across another OpenFOAM solver called directChillFoam (https://github.com/blebon/directChillFoam) that specifically simulates a DC continuous casting process. In this solver, the strand pulling is simulated by introducing the velocity field of the solid (Us), without the need for a dynamic/moving mesh. This is exactly what I want to achieve in my simulation.

My idea was to modify the icoReactingMultiphaseInterFoam solver based on the approach used in directChillFoam. However, I'm unsure if this is feasible within a one-month timeframe, considering that directChillFoam is for OpenFOAM 9, which adds an additional challenge as I want to implement this in OF v2212.

I would greatly appreciate any tips, suggestions, or alternative approaches that you may have. Is it possible to create a new phase model from scratch to solve this problem? Or is there a way to achieve my goal using the icoReactingMultiphaseInterFoam solver that I haven't discovered yet?

Thank you in advance for your help and for taking the time to read my post!

Best regards,
Matthias