INITIAL TEMPERATURE FIELDS IN MOLDS PRIOR TO SOLIDIFICATION.

This work describes the thermal field that includes natural convective effects before solidification begins in a sand mold cavity of rectangular shape. Continuum equations are discretized and numerically modeled to obtain temperature and velocity fields as well as the distributions of vorticity and the stream function. It is shown that natural convective currents cause an upward shift of the thermal center against gravity during the transient period before solidification is initiated.