ABSTRACT
Solidification is a crucial step for many manufacturing processes, such as casting, welding, and additive manufacturing. The importance comes from the fact that the solidification microstructure has a significant influence on properties of the solidified materials. The simulation of solidification microstructures involves a complex combination of physical phenomena at different scales. The incredible advance of supercomputing power is making it possible to start thinking of macroscale simulations of microstructural evolution with microscale resolution. The works described in this chapter represent small steps toward achieving this objective. Some of the recent numerical studies on modeling kinetics of solidification and microstructural evolution are presented and discussed. The focus is on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) as a novel numerical technique for solidification modeling. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional simulation results of dendrite growth are presented and discussed. Large-scale simulations of dendritic solidification, using the advantages of supercomputing, are presented as well. In addition, application of the LBM for the purposes of modeling convection effects and formation of defects, such as freckles and microporosities, are presented.
