Discussion Forum

Hello Everyone,
I am a 3rd Yr student of Mechanical Engineering. I am new to simulation softwares and have just started with COMSOL.

I am working on trying to simulate the entire process of Rotational Molding by studying the thermal and fluid dynamics behind it. To do so I have chosen the Conduction in Porous Medium of the Earth Science Module in 2D Space Dimension and am doing transient analysis of the same. I'll briefly explain what all I have already done. I have a symmetrical cross-section of a cuboidal Aluminum Mold (100mm*100mm) with thickness 5mm. The mold is half full of solid LPDE and the entire setup is supposed to rotate about the central axis at 20rpm. The mold is kept inside an oven maintained at 300C. The heat of the oven is supposed to melt the LPDE inside at 128C by conduction & convection as the melted plastic takes the shape of the hollow mold owing to the centrifugal force resulting from rotation.

I have however solved the model without rotating it by simply using a Heaviside Function to effect the phase change and then obtain complete transition from solid to liquid phase of the plastic.

Now my main problem arises:- How to simulate rotation of the mold? Initially the LPDE is solid and then it gradually melts. So how do I incorporate the changing properties? What model do I use to simulate the vortex type shape of the liquid plastic surface? How to simulate the adherence of the solid LPDE powder to walls of rotating mold so that it forms a layer through which too there is conduction?

Kindly help me out. A simple example or a model situation similar to my problem would definitely help me a lot.

Thanx,
-Raghav