[rroberts]

I am currently working on an application where two polymer streams are combined in a nozzle to produce a multilayer injection molded part. The process is simultaneous where the two materials are being injected at the same time through the same gate. Our current CFD tool does not accommodate two phase flows and I am wondering if OpenFoam would be applicable here? I am interested in setting up a transient analysis where I can visualize the flows of the two materials and hopefully through the selection of the right material models, visualize the viscosities of each and maybe the shear stresses at the boundary. I would also be interested in visulalizing the flow front as well as the fountain flow effect and how this effects the final position of each of the materials. Is OpenFoam appropriate/applicable here?

Thanks in advance,
Ron

[eugene]

The present release of OpenFoam only supports 2phase flow. Adding multi-phase support (2 polymers and air) is a oft-requested but as yet unfunded addition.

[rroberts]

If I decided to drop the flow front visualization, would the 2phase flow support in OpenFoam let me explore some of the other variables that I mention; relative viscosities for example? One particular area of interest is the point where the two material flows meet. The domain at this point is filled and flowing with a first material and a second material is injected at a later time. How the front of the second flow forms is also of interest.

Thanks for the quick reply,
Ron

[eugene]

Sure. I'm not certain how molecular polymer viscosity is modeled though. If you use BirdCarreau, CrossPowerLaw or Newtonian viscosity, you should be fine. Anything else and you will have some coding to do.