Numerical Study of Stream Finishing of a Fairway Golf Club

The present study extends a previously calibrated rheology and wall slip model to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of material removal distribution over the surface of a fairway golf club undergoing the stream finishing process. Simulations were undertaken for the cases of the golf club immersed in a stream finishing drum, fixed for two different orientations and with the drum rotated either clockwise or counterclockwise. Owing to the complex media flow over the golf club resulting from the interaction between the media and the three-dimensional surface of the golf club, predicted values of wall pressure and slip velocity distributions span over a wide range of magnitudes, implying that achieving uniform material removal would be a particularly interesting challenge. Lastly, insights gained from the present study will inform a careful design of the physical experiments, which are meant to further improve the stream finishing material models.