Simulation of the temperature distribution within a steel block cooled by a water jet spray

The cooling of highly heated metal during manufacturing process exhibits a significant heat generation with the ambiance. During the cooling stage, the metal structure and its properties may be adversely affected. The aim of this paper is to digitally simulate the temperature evolution within a steel block cooled by a pressured water jet beneath sprayer. Thus, the heat equation is solved by finite difference discretization using Fortran 90 as programming language. For matrix calculation, the successive overrelaxation (SOR) is the chosen appropriate method, well suited for this kind of problems. The simulation results are shown as illustrations of instantaneous temperature profiles which allow us to make a thermal diagnosis in order to optimise cooling systems and also to predict thermophysical behaviour of the studied material.Keywords: Simulation – Fortran – Finite difference – Heat equation – Temperature