Identification of interfacial heat transfer coefficient during casting solidification based on an inverse heat conduction model

The interfacial heat transfer coefficients (IHTCs) are necessary for accurate simulation of the casting process. However, it is difficult to determine the values of heat transfer coefficient from experiments due to the influence of various factors, such as contacting pressure, oxides on surfaces, roughness of surfaces, coating material, coating thickness and gap formation caused by the deformation of casting and mold. In this paper, an inverse heat conduction model is introduced to calculate IHTCs from the measured temperatures in the mold. The model is proposed and established based on the least-squares technique and sequential function specification method. A typical profile of heat flux simulating practical conditions of casting solidification is used to investigate the accuracy and stability of the proposed inverse algorithm. In the test process, the effects of some calculation parameters in the inverse model are analyzed. Then, the inverse heat conduction model is applied to determine the heat fluxes and IHTCs during casting solidification and the results show that the proposed model is effective and reliable.