Numerical Simulation of Injection Molding using OpenFOAM

Abstract

Abstract We show how to use and extend OpenFOAM's incompressible two‐phase flow solvers for the simulation of injection molding with short fiber reinforced thermoplastics in a laminar flow regime. Second order fiber orientation tensors are computed using the Folgar‐Tucker equation (FTE) with quadratic closure. The FTE is coupled to the viscosity‐term of the Navier‐Stokes equations for the non‐Newtonian flow in a segregated manner. Phase dependent boundary conditions are implemented to simulate wall heat transfer, stickiness of the melt to the wall and to prevent air‐traps close to the wall. (© 2014 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)