10/11/2015 1.6.

2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

1.6.2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

Products:Abaqus/StandardAbaqus/Explicit

Heatconductionproblemsinvolvinglatentheateffectsoccurofteninpractice(examplesaremetalcasting
andpermafrostmeltout)butarenotsimpletosolve.Insomecasesthephasechangeoccurswithlittle
latentheateffectandrapidtemperaturechangescanpartiallysuppressthechange,asinthecaseofthe
amorphous/crystallinepolymerphasechange.ForsuchcasesAbaqus/Standardprovidesausersubroutine,
HETVAL,inwhichtheusercanprogramthekineticsofthephasechangeandtheconsequentlatentheat
exchangeintermsofsolutiondependentstatevariables.Incontrast,aliquid/solidphasechangeisusually
fairlyabruptandisaccompaniedbyastronglatentheateffect.Thiscaseistheoneconsideredinthis
example.

TheproblemisthetwodimensionalStefanproblem(Figure1.6.21):asquareblockofmaterialisinitially
liquid,justabovethefreezingtemperature.Thetemperatureofitsoutsideperimeterisreducedsuddenlyby
alargevalue,sothattheblockstartstofreezefromtheoutsidetowardthecore.Thefreezinghasavery
largelatentheateffectassociatedwithitthatdominatesthesolution.Theproblemhasnoexactsolution,
butanumberofresearchershaveprovidedapproximatesolutions.Probablythemostaccurateoftheseis
thenumericalsolutionofLazaridis(1970),whoconsiderstheproblemasamovingboundarycondition
problem.Lazaridis'ssolutionisusedhereasverificationoftheAbaqusmodelingofsuchcases.

Problemdescription

Theblockisasquareofdimension88lengthunits.Becauseofsymmetryweneedtoconsider
onlyanoctant,butwemodelaquarterforsimplicityingeneratingthemesh.

Severelatentheateffectsinvolvemovingboundaryconditions(thefreezingfront),acrosswhichthe
spatialgradientoftemperature, ,isdiscontinuous.Simplefiniteelements,suchasthelinear
andquadraticelementsusedinAbaqus,donotallowgradientdiscontinuitieswithinanelement,
althoughtheydoallowsuchdiscontinuitiesbetweenelementsinthedirectionofthenormaltotheir
sides.Sincetheactualprobleminvolvesdiscontinuitiesalongsurfacesmovingthroughthemesh,the
bestwecandowithafixedgridofsimpleelementsistouseafinemeshoflowestorderelements,
thusprovidingahighnumberofgradientdiscontinuitysurfaces.InAbaqus/Standardtwo
dimensionalheattransferelements(DS3andDS4)andfirstordercoupledtemperaturedisplacement
elements(CPE4TandCPEG4T)areusedtomodeltheplate.Themeshesusedarecoarseforthe
problembuttheysufficetogivereasonablesolutionsand,thus,verifythecapability.Inpractical
casesamorerefinedmodelisrecommended.InAbaqus/Explicittwoandthreedimensional,first
ordercoupledtemperaturedisplacementelements(CPE4RT,C3D8RT,andSC8RT)areusedto
modeltheplate.

Material

Thematerialproperties(inconsistentunits)are

Density 1.0
Specificheat 1.0
Latentheatoffreezing 70.26
Freezingtemperature 0
Thermalconductivity 1.08
http://www.egr.msu.edu/software/abaqus/Documentation/docs/v6.7/books/bmk/ch01s06ach54.html 1/5
10/11/2015 1.6.2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

Thissetofvaluesincludesalatentheateffectthatisfarmoreseverethanthatinanymaterialofpractical
importance.Thisvalueisdeliberatelychosentoprovideastringenttestoftheaccuracyofthealgorithm.

ThelatentheatmustbespecifiedinAbaqusoveratemperaturerange.Forthispurposewegivethesolidus
andliquidustemperaturesas0.25and0.15,respectively.

InthesimulationsinvolvingAbaqus/Explicitdummymechanicalpropertiesareusedtocompletethe
materialdefinition.

Boundaryconditions

Thesymmetrylinesareinsulatedthisisthedefaultsurfaceboundaryconditionand,so,neednotbe
specified.Theoutsidesurfacesmustbereducedattimezeroto45.Thisvaluecanbespecifieddirectly
however,werampthetemperaturedownto45overatimeof0.05topreventtheautomatictime
incrementationschemeinAbaqus/Standardfromchoosingverysmalltimeincrementsatthebeginningof
thesimulation.

Timeincrementcontrols

Automatictimeincrementationischosen,whichistheusualoptionfortransientheatconductionproblems.
InAbaqus/Standardamaximumtemperaturechangeof4isallowedpertimeincrementtoallowthetime
incrementtoincreasetolargevaluesatlatertimesasthesolutionsmoothesout.

Resultsanddiscussion

TemperaturetimeplotsforpointsAandBofFigure1.6.21areshowninFigure1.6.22,where
theyarecomparedtoLazaridis's(1970)numericalsolution.Thenumericalresultsshowninthis
figurearebasedonthesolutionobtainedwithAbaqus/Standard.TheAbaqusresultsarequite
accurateconsideringthecoarsenessofthemeshusedandtheextremeseverityofthelatentheat
effectinthisexample.ThesolutionoscillatesaboutLazaridis'sresultsbecausethefiniteelement
meshallowstemperaturegradientdiscontinuitiesonlyatelementboundaries,sothatthefusion
frontseffectivelyjumpbetweentheselocations.Thiseffectisalsothereasonforthedelayinthe
startofthetemperaturedrop.

Figure1.6.23andFigure1.6.24showisothermcontourplotsatdifferenttimes.Theformofthe
solutionisveryclearfromtheseplots.

TheresultsobtainedwithAbaqus/ExplicitcomparewellwiththoseobtainedwithAbaqus/Standard,
asillustratedinFigure1.6.25.ThisfigurecomparestheresultsobtainedwithAbaqus/Explicitfor
thetemperaturehistoryofpointsAandBagainstthesameresultsobtainedwithAbaqus/Standard.

Inputfiles

Abaqus/Standardinputfiles

freezingofsolid_2d.inp

Inputdataforthetwodimensionalproblem.

freezingofsolid_3d.inp

Similarmodelinthreedimensions.
http://www.egr.msu.edu/software/abaqus/Documentation/docs/v6.7/books/bmk/ch01s06ach54.html 2/5
10/11/2015 1.6.2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

freezingofsolid_postoutput.inp

*POSTOUTPUTanalysis.

freezingofsolid_2d_usr_umatht.inp

Twodimensionalsimulationoftheproblemwiththematerialbehaviordefinedinuser
subroutineUMATHTtoillustratethecodingofthissubroutine.

freezingofsolid_2d_usr_umatht.f

UsersubroutineUMATHTusedinfreezingofsolid_2d_usr_umatht.inp.

freezingofsolid_ds3.inp

TwodimensionalanalysiswithDS3elements.

freezingofsolid_ds4.inp

TwodimensionalanalysiswithDS4elements.

freezingofsolid_deftorigid.inp

TwodimensionalanalysiswithCPE4Telementsdeclaredasrigid.

freezingofsolid_cpeg4t.inp

TwodimensionalanalysiswithCPEG4Telements.
Abaqus/Explicitinputfiles

freezingofsolid_xpl_cpe4rt.inp

TwodimensionalanalysiswithCPE4RTelements.

freezingofsolid_xpl_c3d8rt.inp

ThreedimensionalanalysiswithC3D8RTelements.

freezingofsolid_xpl_sc8rt.inp

ThreedimensionalanalysiswithSC8RTelements.

Reference

Lazaridis,A.,ANumericalSolutionoftheMultidimensionalSolidification(orMelting)Problem,
InternationalJournalofHeatandMassTransfer,vol.13,1970.
Figures

Figure1.6.21Squareplatefreezingexample.

http://www.egr.msu.edu/software/abaqus/Documentation/docs/v6.7/books/bmk/ch01s06ach54.html 3/5
10/11/2015 1.6.2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

Figure1.6.22SquareplatefusiontemperatureversustimeatnodesAandBofFigure1.6.21
(Abaqus/Standard).

Figure1.6.23Squareplatefusionisothermsat 0.450(Abaqus/Standard).
http://www.egr.msu.edu/software/abaqus/Documentation/docs/v6.7/books/bmk/ch01s06ach54.html 4/5
10/11/2015 1.6.2Freezingofasquaresolid:thetwodimensionalStefanproblem

Figure1.6.24Squareplatefusionisothermsat 5.0(Abaqus/Standard).

Figure1.6.25ComparisonofresultsobtainedwithAbaqus/ExplicitandAbaqus/Standard.

http://www.egr.msu.edu/software/abaqus/Documentation/docs/v6.7/books/bmk/ch01s06ach54.html 5/5