Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
org
doi:10.14355/me.2014.0303.03
PhysicalandMathematicalSimulationof
FluidFlowinaWideSinglestrandTundish
forSlabContinuouscasting
ZhongLiangcai*1,HaoRuichao2LiJunzhe3LiLei1ZhuYingxiong4XuNinghui5
SchoolofMaterialsandMetallurgy,NortheasternUniversity,Shenyang110004,China;5PinggangJiujiang
BranchCorporation,Jiujiang332000,Jiangxi,China.
14
*1
zhonglc@126.com;2ohaoruichaoo0203@126.com;3why873936932@126.com;4lileineu2008@163.com
Received16July,2013;Accepted22September,2013;Published9June,2014
2014ScienceandEngineeringPublishingCompany
Abstract
Molten steel flow in a wide singlestrand tundish with
different flow control devices (FCDs) for slab continuous
casting was investigated by physical and mathematical
simulationsinthiswork.TheeffectsofdifferentFCDsonthe
flow characteristics and velocity and temperature fields in
the tundish with larger width, shorter length and larger
depth were studied. The results showed that locations and
dimensions of weirs and dams and geometry of turbulence
inhibitors(TIs)havealargeeffectontheflowcharacteristics
andvelocityandtemperatureprofiles.Adoptionofasquare
turbulenceinhibitorwithoutextendingtoplipscanimprove
themoltensteelflowbetterthanthatwithtopextendinglips
in the tundish. In comparison with the former tundish
configuration, the flow characteristics are improved to a
great extent in the optimum case. A big spring uprush
forms on the free surface around the long shroud when
moltensteelflowsintoaturbulenceinhibitorwithextending
top lips and rushes up reversely out of the TI, while four
small spring uprushes appear on the surface when a
squareTIwithoutextendingtoplipsisadoptedbecausethe
liquidsteelflowsmainlyoutofthe4cornersofthesquareTI.
Theflowofliquidsteelintheformertundishconfiguration
is not reasonable and the height of an area where
temperatureislessthan1819Kisabouthalfofliquidsurface
heightattherightsideofthestopper,whichmeansthatbig
deadzoneexitedintheformertundishconfiguration.Inthe
optimumcase,theheightofsuchareawasonlyoneseventh
of the liquid surface height. The RTD curves obtained from
themathematicalsimulationareagreedwiththosefromthe
physical modeling and the flow characteristics obtained
from these two methods in this work are coincident with
eachother.
Keywords
Slab Continuouscasting; Wide Singlestrand Tundish;
Mathematical Simulation; Physical Modelling; Fluid Flow
Introduction
Tundishes in continuous casting have very important
effects for steel cleanness. Tundish metallurgy has
beenpaidmoreandmoreattentions.1Itiswellknown
thatmoltensteelflowcharacteristicsintundisheshave
great effects on nonmetallic inclusion removal from
theliquidsteel,slagandairentrainmentminimization,
and new inclusion formation prevention. Different
flow control devices (FCDs), such as weirs, dams,
baffles and turbulence inhibitors (TIs), have been
applied in continuouscasting tundishes for
improvementofthecharacteristicsofmoltensteelflow.
Manyresearchers210haveappliedTIswithotherFCDs
to optimize the tundish configurations since 1990s by
physical modeling and/or mathematical simulation.
Generally, the TIs used have extending top lips in
these researches and good flow characteristics have
beenachieved.Butnotalltundishesaresuitabletouse
suchTIswithextendingtoplips.WhatkindsofTIsin
geometry should be adopted in a tundish lies on the
insideprofileoftundishes.
The geometry characteristics of the singlestrand slab
tundishprofilestudiedinthepresentworkarelarger
width,shorterlengthandlargerdepth,being1513mm
(upper width)4035 mm(upper length)1215(working
liquid surface depth). For such tundish, different TIs
with or without extending top lips were applied to
optimize the tundish configuration together with a
weir and a dam through physical modeling
experimentsandmathematicalsimulationcalculations,
109
www.mejournal.orgJournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014
Mixingflowvolumefractionvm
vm
Vm
1 vd vp (5)
V
FIG.1SCHEMATICOFEXPERIMENTALAPPARATUS
(1)
Continuity
Momentum
( ui u j )
eff
xi
xi xi
tav
tc t dt
c t dt
ti c ti ti
i
c ti ti
(2)
Plugflowvolumefractionvp
Vp min max
vp
(3)
V
2
Deadzonevolumefractionvd14
V
Q
vd d 1 a a (4)
V
Q
110
gi (7)
eff t (8)
u u j
i
x j xi
Averageresidencetimetav
( ui ) 0 (6)
xi
Turbulentkineticenergy
k
ui k eff G (9)
xi
xi k xi
JournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014www.mejournal.org
Dissipationrateofturbulentkineticenergy
BoundaryConditions
ui eff C1G C2 (10)
xi
xi xi k
xi
x j xi
2
(11)
Theturbulentviscosity,tcanbewrittenas:
C k 2
(12)
C1,C2,C,kandaretheempiricalconstantsofthek
model and were assigned to their standard values
from Launder and Spalding15: 1.44, 1.92, 0.09, 1.0 and
1.30,respectively.
Theheattransferinthetundishisgovernedbyenergy
equationasfollows:
( CP uiT )
T
eff
(13)
xi
xi
xi
TABLE1PARAMETERSFORMATHEMATICALSIMULATIONOFLIQUID
STEELFLOWINTHETUNDISH
here,PrtistheturbulentPrandtlnumber,isthermal
conductivity,CpisheatcapacityandTistemperature.
Parameters
Values
Liquidsteel
7000
density/kgm3
Liquidsteel
41
conductivity/Wm1K1
1823
Heatfluxat
bottom/kWm2
1.4
Heatfluxattransverse
walls/kWm2
3.8
c (ui c)
c
Deff
(15)
t
xi
xi
xi
wherecrepresentstheconcentrationofthetracer,tis
the time and Deff is the effective mass diffusion
coefficient and is the sum of the molecular and
turbulent diffusivity (D+DT). Under the condition
whereturbulentSchmidtnumberisequalto1,onehas:
Deff
1 (16)
eff
Inlettemperature/K
Parameters
Values
Liquidsteel
0.0067
viscosity/kgm1s1
Liquidsteelspecific
750
heat/Jkg1K1
Heatfluxatwalls
1.75
insidetundish/kWm2
Heatfluxatliquid
15
surface/kWm2
Heatfluxat
3.2
longitudinal
walls/kWm2
111
www.mejournal.orgJournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014
TIsareallsquareathorizontalcrosssectionexceptTI3
whose horizontal crosssection is rectangle with 280
mmshortsides.
TheRTDcurvesinthetundishwithconfigurationsof
C0, C6, C7 and C11are shown in Fig. 4 and the flow
characteristics of different tundish configurations are
giveninTable3.ItisknownfromTable2thatC0and
C7 used the same TI, i.e., TI1, and the difference
between these two cases was their weir and dam
locationsandheights,i.e.,S1,S2,H1andH2.Asshown
inFig.4,therearehighpeaksintheRTDcurvesforC0
andC7cases,whichindicatesthatalotoftracersflow
outofthetundishandlargedeadzonevolumesexitin
thetundishwithC0andC7configurations,asseenin
Table 3. Even though C7 and C11 have the same
valuesofS1,S2,H1andH2,thepeakoftheRTDcurve
inC11caseisloweredapparentlyduetothedifferent
TIanditsRTDcurvemovestowardsrightsideinFig.
4.TheseresultsindicatethatTI1isnotsuitableforthis
kind of tundish studied in present work. The
difference among C6, C7 and C11 cases in
configuration is that there is no TI in C6 case. It is
known from Fig. 4 that the minimum residence and
peak concentration times in C6 case are short. Short
minimumresidenceandpeakconcentrationtimesare
notexpectedeventhoughitspeakconcentrationislow.
Therefore,theadoptionofturbulentinhibitorwithout
extending top lips, TI5, in this tundish can distribute
molten steel well to larger space of the tundish and
prolong residence time of liquid steel in the tundish,
whichisfavorabletoremovalofnonmetalinclusions.
Such result is determined by the characteristic of this
tundishprofile.
FIG.2SCHEMATICOFTUNDISHCONFIGURATIONSINTHE
EXPERIMANTS
TABLE2TYPICALTUNDISHCONFIGURATIONSINEXPERIMENTS
Case
C0
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
C11
TI
TI1
TI1
TI1
TI2
TI3
TI4
TI1
TI5
TI5
TI5
TI5
S1/mm
632
590
590
590
590
540
390
390
540
440
390
390
S2/mm
108
108
200
150
150
200
150
150
200
200
200
150
H1/mm
96
96
130
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
55
H2/mm
136
136
205
205
205
225
250
250
250
250
250
250
2.0
1.5
C0
C/-
C7
FIG.3SCHEMATICOFSOMETURBULENCEINHIBITORSIN
THEEXPERIMENTS
C11
Differenttundishconfigurationstudiedinthisworkis
showninFig.2.Thetundishconfigurationsconsisted
of different turbulent inhibitors (TIs), different
locations of a weir and a dam (S1 and S2) and their
different heights (H1 and H2). A lot of tundish
configurations had been experimented in the present
work,butforspacelimitedonlysometypicaltundish
configurations are listed in Table 2 where C0 is the
former tundish arrangement. Figure 3 presents some
TIsusedinthephysicalmodelingexperiments.These
112
C6
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
/FIG.4RTDCURVESINSOMEDIFFERENTTUNDISH
CONFIGURATIONS
AsshowninTable3,thefluidflowinthetundishwith
the former configuration, C0, is not perfect. Its
JournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014www.mejournal.org
and dam and let fluid flow toward upper part of the
right end wall, which increases residence times and
decreasesdeadzonevolumeinthetundish.
minimumresidenceis64s,itspeakconcentrationand
average residence times are short and its dead zone
volume is larger, being 35%, which decreases largely
theeffectivevolumeofthetundish.ThesameTI1was
usedinC1andC2casesandthelocationsandheights
of the weir and dam were adjusted, but the flow
characteristics in these two cases change less. Their
averageresidencetimesincreasealittleandtheirdead
zone volumes decrease less, and all of their fractions
wereover30%.
TABLE3FLOWCHARACTERISTICSINDIFFERENTTUNDISH
CONFIGURATIONS
Case
C0
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
C9
C10
C11
tmin/s
64
64
70
78
80
78
54
63
88
82
79
81
tmax/s
81
81
108
113
130
134
91
99
121
139
141
163
tav/s
237
241
249
279
280
289
286
273
291
303
307
314
vp/%
20
20
24
26
29
29
20
22
29
30
30
33
vd/%
35
34
32
24
23
21
21
25
20
17
16
14
vm/%
45
46
44
50
48
50
59
53
51
53
54
53
ItwasfoundfromtheexperimentsthatincreaseinTIs
outlet area can improve fluid flow characteristics in
this tundish. TI5 was achieved by canceling TIs
extendingtoplips.C8,C9,C10andC11configurations
consist of TI5 and different locationsand heights ofa
weir and a dam. It is known from Table 2 and 3 that
the peak concentration and average residence times
are prolonged greatly by using TI5 and moving the
weir and dam towards the direction of the tundish
outlet and the dead zone volume is reduced greatly,
beingless20%.Thedeadzonevolumefractioninthe
tundishwithC11caseisloweredto14%,lessby60%
thanthatintheformertundishconfigurationC0.
35
vd /%
30
25
20
ItcanbeconcludedfromTable2and3thatreduction
inS1andH1andincreaseinS2andH2arefavorableto
improvement for fluid flow characteristics in this
tundish.Averageresidencetimeisincreasedanddead
zone volume is decreased. Lowering H1 and S1 and
increasing S2 and H2 can prolong fluids flowing
distance,reduceitsflowingvelocitybetweentheweir
15
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
S1/mm
FIG.5RELATIONSHIPBETWEENDEADZONEVOLUME
FRACTIONINTHETUNDSIHANDS1
113
www.mejournal.orgJournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014
TABLE4COMPARISONOFFLUIDFLOWCHARACTERISTICSINDIFFERENT
TUNDISHCASESFROMNUMERICALANDPHYSICALSIMULATIONS
Case
C0
C11
MathematicalSimulation
C7
C6
C/-
0.0
0
/ -
FIG.6RTDCURVESFROMMATHEMATICALANDPHYSICAL
SIMULATIONSINC6ANDC7TUNDISHCONFIGURATIONS
1.0
C/-
0.5
0.0
0
/-
FIG.7RTDCURVESFROMMATHEMATICALANDPHYSICAL
SIMULTIONSINC0ANDC11TUNDISHCONFIGURATIONS
114
tmin/s
68
63
86
82
70
63
54
54
tmax/s
123
76
185
165
113
99
169
91
tav/s
285
235
320
313
297
273
321
286
vp/%
26
19
37
34
25
22
31
20
vd/%
28
35
17
14
24
25
19
21
vm/%
46
45
46
52
51
53
50
59
1.0
Method
Numerical
Physical
Numerical
Physical
Numerical
Physical
Numerical
Physical
JournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014www.mejournal.org
foundfromthesetwofiguresthatthestreamfromthe
long shroud impinges the bottom of the TI without
extending top lips and diverts along its bottom. The
meltrushesreverselyupmainlyoutofthe4cornersof
the TI toward the free surface where 4 small spring
uprushes are formed, as can be seen in Fig. 11(b).
Such phenomena could be observed visually in the
physical modeling experiments with the TI without
extending top lips. A recirculation region with small
height is formed around the shroud stream near the
TIsbottom.Themeltsreachedatthefreesurfaceflow
all around along the surface and turn downward at
the around walls and the symmetrical plane of the
tundish when they encounter. No other recirculation
zonesarefoundunderthefreesurfaceasthoseinthe
former tundish configuration in the vertical
symmetrical plane. Only several very small
recirculation flowing zones can be observed on the
free surface at the left side of the weir. Such flowing
characteristics in the optimum tundish case are
different from those in the former tundish case. With
the reduction in distance between the dam and the
tundish outlet, the recirculation flow region between
the dam and the stopper becomes small, while with
increaseindistancebetweentheweirandthedam,the
recirculationzonebehindtheweirbecomeslarge.
towardthedam.Thenthispartofliquidsteelisforced
to move upwards to the liquid surface due to the
obstructioneffectofthedam.Themeltflowsalongthe
freesurfacetowardtherightsidewall.Finally,itturns
down near the stopper and flows toward the tundish
outlet.Alargerecirculationregionisformedbetween
the dam and the right tundish side wall. A small
recirculation flow exists in the right side of the weir.
Although some recirculation regions are formed on
thefreesurfaceneartherighttundishsidewall,ascan
be found in Fig. 9(b), they would not lead to slag
entrapmentbecausethevelocityhereisverysmall.
0.5m/s
(a)Velocityfield
0.5m/s
(b)Streamline
FIG.8FLOWFIELDANDSTREAMLINESATVERTICAL
SECTIONINTHEFORMERTUNDISHCONFIGURATION
0.5m/s
(a)Flowfield
(a)Flowfield
(b)Streamline
FIG.10FLOWFIELDANDSTREAMLINESATVERTICAL
SECTIONINTHEOPTIMALTUNDISHCONFIGURATION
0.5m/s
(b)Streamline
FIG.9FLOWFIELDANDSTREAMLINESATFREESURFACEIN
THEFORMERTUNDISHCONFIGURATION
(a)Flowfield
115
www.mejournal.orgJournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014
steeltemperaturerangeintheareaof1/2heightofthe
bath near the free surface at the right side of the
stopper varies from 1819 K to 1813 K and the lowest
melt temperatures at the two side walls on the free
surfaceattherightsideofthetundishareonly1807K
and 1808 K, respectively. Therefore, in such areas the
moltensteelflowsslowlyanddeadzonesareformed,
resulting in lower temperature regions and reduction
in effective tundish volume and being unfavorable to
makingfulluseofmetallurgicalfunctionsoftundishes.
It can be known from Fig. 13 that the temperature
gradients along the melt flow direction in the
optimumtundishconfigurationbecomessmallerthan
those in the former tundish case. The high
temperaturezonesdisperseatthe4gushesabovethe4
corners of the TI. There are larger areas where the
temperature is between 1822 K and 1821 K in the
verticalsymmetricalplaneandonthefreesurface.The
molten steel temperature range in the area of 1/7
heightofthebathnearthefreesurfaceattherightside
of the stopper varies from 1819 K to 1816 K and the
lowest melt temperature at the two side walls on the
freesurfaceattherightsideofthetundishis1813K.It
is indicated from the above results that the molten
steel flow is reasonable and dead volume and low
temperature regions are reduced in the optimum
tundishconfiguration.
(b)Streamline
FIG.11FLOWFIELDANDSTREAMLINESATFREESURFACEIN
THEOPTIMALTUNDISHCONFIGURATION
(a)Verticalsymmetricalplane
Conclusions
Moltensteelflowinawidesinglestrandtundishwith
different FCDs for slab continuouscasting was
investigated by physical and mathematical
simulations in this work. The following conclusions
canbedrawnoutfromthisinvestigation.
(a)Verticalsymmetricalplane
(b)Freesurface
FIG.13TEMPERATUREFIELDINTHEOPTIMALTUNDISH
CONFIGURATION
116
JournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014www.mejournal.org
residencetimeareincreasedfrom64s,81sand237s
to81s,163sand314s,respectively,andthefractionof
dead zone volume decreases from 35% to 14%, being
reducedby60%.
thiskeyresearchproject(No.61333006).
REFERENCES
(6)Largertemperaturegradientsintheformertundish
configuration exist along the flow direction of liquid
steelanditstemperaturechangesfrom1821Kto1807
K at the right side of the weir on the free surface.
There is a larger low temperature zone in the area of
1/2heightofthebathnearthefreesurfaceattheright
side of the stopper and the lowest melt temperatures
at the two side walls on the free surface at the right
side of the tundish are only 1807 K and 1808 K,
respectively. This indicates that the velocity of liquid
steel in this area is low and large dead zone volume
exists.
(7)Themoltensteeltemperaturerangingfrom1819K
to 1816 K in the optimum tundish configuration only
occupiestheareaof1/7heightofthebathnearthefree
surfaceattherightsideofthestopperandthelowest
melt temperatures at the two side walls on the free
surface at the right side of the tundish is 1813 K. The
moltensteelflowisreasonableanddeadvolumeand
lowtemperatureregionsarereduced.
VolumeTundishes.IronmakingandSteelmaking,2001,
28(2),101109.
RamosBanderasA,MoralesRD,GarcaDemedicesL,etal.
Mathematical Simulation and Modeling of Steel Flow
with Gas Bubbling in Trough Type Tundishes, ISIJ
International.2003,43(5),653662
Ray S K, Isac M, Guthrie R I L. Modelling performance of
ACKNOWNLEDGMENTS
fourstrand,12tdeltashapedcontinuouscastingtundish
fitted with different flow modifying arrangements for
117
www.mejournal.orgJournalofMetallurgicalEngineering(ME)Volume3Issue3,July2014
38(3),173180.
Tundish
castingtundishes.ISIJInt,1996,36(6),667672.
Different
Flow
Modifiers.
ISIJ
International,2007,47(1),8894.
StrandIndustrialTundishWorkwithUseofTurbulence
InfluenceofVariousTurbulenceInhibitoronFluidFlow
BehaviorinTundish.JofIronandSteelResearch,2002,
ResearchInt,2012,83(11),10291038.
14(4),69.
118
with