Creation of 3D Custom ANSYS Elements for Studying the Multi-Physics of Quench Prevention in Superconducting Magnets
Research by: Kate Edwards Figure: Nodal temperature values for a quench propagation test using the 3D Custom ANSYS Thermal Element. Quench is a failure of a superconducting magnet where the superconducting material returns to a resistive state due. This occurs when the material reaches either its critical current, magnetic field, or temperature due to large magnetic fields or defects in the magnet. Local quenches cause a chain reaction throughout the magnet, rapidly causing the entire coil to become resistive – potentially leading to fatal damages to the magnet....
Uncertainty Quantification of Material Thermal Responses due to Perturbations of Laser Power for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Processing
Research by: Nicolas Castrillon A widespread use of lasers in AM is to induce a given temperature and a phase transformation in materials deposited onto a substrate. For a laser to induce a phase transformation in the material, the power intensity must be sufficiently high to induce melting and, in all cases, stay below a vaporization or burn-off temperature of the target material. Oftentimes, there is variability in the laser input power to the target zone. For a process designer, a central question is to determine the...
Modeling and simulation of SLS-3D printing process
Research by: Timo Schmidt More than 50% of the raw materials handled in industry appear in particulate form, which is why an optimal powder might be of interest for industry. However, it is obvious that optimal needs to be defined for each application in a different way. This research project is focused on the SLS-3D printing process, where repeatedly layers of particles are created and sapped by a laser to create the final product. A Discrete Element Method is used to analyze the behavior of the particles in...
Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics for Multiphysics Simulations
Research by: Chang Yoon Park Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics provides a way to approximate field derivatives with a set of unstructured points. Due to its simplicity and ease of implementation, it has gained great traction for solving problems related to free-surface fluid flows. Unfortunately, due to several drawbacks of the conventional/traditional SPH formulations, it was never a massively popular choice for solving solid mechanics problems / non-newtonian fluid flow problems. To overcome the previous difficulties researchers have been facing when using SPH for such problems, I am developing new...
Particle Method for Simulation of Selective Laser Sintering Process
Research by: Roger Isied Picture from: A coupled discrete element-finite difference model of selective laser sintering–Rishi Ganeriwala and Tarek I. Zohdi Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM) are emerging as popular additive manufacturing processes due to their ability to create custom geometries in a vast range of materials such as polymers, composites, and most notably, metals. These processes work by repeatedly depositing a layer of material powder onto a print bed and utilizing a laser to either sinter or melt the layer of particles in...
Thermomechanical Simulation for Robotic IR Camera Monitoring of Thermomechanical Surface Processes
Research by: Donghoon Kim, Youngkyu Kim, David Alcantara Many surface treatment processes involve some sort of energy transfer to the treated part. This transfer can cause thermal stresses due to temperature gradients and ultimately deteriorate the treated part. To reduce the effects from energy deposition, it is necessary to monitor the state of the part which is nontrivial due to “hidden” states that cannot be monitored, such as internal temperatures and thermal stresses. The project aims to couple an IR camera reading the part’s surface temperature with thermomechanical...
Material Point Method
Research by: Youngkyu Kim Solving mechanical problems including large deformation, fracture, and, impact can result in numerical issues. To solve governing equations, a Lagrangian description or an Eulerian description can be used. In Lagrangian methods, the computational mesh deforms with the material. So, in the case of large deformation, fracture, and impact, Lagrangian methods cause mesh distortion leading to mesh entanglement. On the other hand, in Eulerian methods, the governing equations are solved using a fixed grid. Thus, the Eulerian description can handle highly deformed motion. However,...
A material point method framework for simulation of additive manufacturing processes
Research by: Erden Yildizdag In this study, we develop a material point method (MPM) framework to simulate additive manufacturing processes. The MPM is one of the extensions of the particle-in-cell (PIC) method which has been used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications since 1960s. The main idea behind the material point method is to take advantages of both Eulerian and Lagrangian descriptions which are two different approaches used in the field of mechanics. In material point method, continuum field is represented with a set of particles (material points)....
Fully Three-Dimensional Process Planning for Additive Manufacturing
Research by: Maxwell Micali While additive manufacturing and 3D printing have achieved notoriety for their abilities to manufacture complex three-dimensional parts, the state of the art is not truly three-dimensional. Rather, the process plans rely on a stack of discretized two-dimensional layers. Discretization of smooth, freeform features results in printed parts with stair-stepped surfaces, increasing the total volumetric error of the part and potentially diminishing the intended performance of functional surfaces. By performing process planning in a fully three-dimensional domain, as opposed to the 2.5D status quo, the...
Particle method to simulate the flow through marine current turbines
Research by: David Fernandez-Gutierrez The Ocean represents a massive energy resource that can be employed for electricity generation. This fact has led to the growing interest ocean-driven energy generation over the last decade. This research project focuses on the development of a novel particle method to simulate the flow through marine current turbines. Ultimately, the goal of the project is to evaluate the probability and potential damage of collisions on the turbine blades from solid elements dragged by currents, and to optimize design modifications to mitigate such events. The proposed numerical method arises from...
