Transient mold cooling analysis using BEM with the time-dependent fundamental solution

Cooling system design is of great importance for plastic injection molding because it significantly affects the productivity and quality of the final products. The purpose of mold cooling analysis is to determine the temperature profile along the cavity wall to improve the cooling system design. In this study, a fully transient mold cooling analysis formulation is developed using the boundary element method (BEM) based on the time-dependent fundamental solution. Then the cyclic transient cooling analysis is performed using this approach for a T-shape plastic part. Compared with the previous work done using finite element method or dual reciprocity boundary element method, domain discretization or use of points internal to the domain can be avoided. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.