Measurement and simulation of temperature and velocity fields during the cooling of water in a die casting model

Simultaneous measurements of temperature and velocity fields have been performed by applying combined laser induced fluorescence (LIF) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques to natural convection in a die cast model. A 10 cm × 10 cm × 3 cm U-shape rectangular die casting model has been filled with pure water and the cell walls have been continuously cooled between 41 and 6 °C. The resulting natural convection pattern and temperature field have been measured with PIV and LIF. Furthermore, the convection pattern has been simulated in 2D and 3D using the commercial CFD software FLUENT. The comparison of the experimental and numerical results given in this work shows good agreement both qualitatively and quantitatively.