Sharp-interface simulation of dendritic solidification of solutions

A numerical method is developed for the simulation of solidification of solutions/alloys. The heat and species transport equations are solved with appropriate interface conditions. The interface shape and thermal and solutal fields are calculated in a fully coupled manner. The effects of capillarity are included in the interfacial dynamics. The present mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian framework treats the immersed phase boundary as a sharp solid–fluid interface and a conservative finite-volume formulation allows boundary conditions at the moving surface to be exactly applied. We first compare the planar growth results with published one-dimensional numerical results. We then show that the method can compute the breakdown of the solid–liquid interface due to the Mullins–Sekerka instability. The dendritic growth of the crystals under various growth parameters is computed.