Review of Particle-Based Computational Methods and Their Application in the Computational Modelling of Welding, Casting and Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

A variety of particle-based methods have been developed for the purpose of computationally modelling processes that involve, for example, complex topological changes of interfaces, significant plastic deformation of materials, fluid flow in conjunction with heat transfer and phase transformation, flow in porous media, granular flow, etc. Being different from the conventional methods that directly solve related governing equations using a computational grid, the particle-based methods firstly discretize the continuous medium into discrete pseudo-particles in mathematics. The methods then mathematically solve the governing equations by considering the local interaction between neighbouring pseudo-particles. Such solutions can reflect the overall flow, deformation, heat transfer and phase transformation processes of the target materials at the mesoscale and macroscale. This paper reviews the fundamental concepts of four different particle-based methods (lattice Boltzmann method—LBM, smoothed particle hydrodynamics—SPH, discrete element method—DEM and particle finite element method—PFEM) and their application in computational modelling research on welding, casting and additive manufacturing.