Modeling on fluid flow and inclusion motion in centrifugal continuous casting strands

During the centrifugal continuous casting process, unreasonable casting parameters can cause violent level fluctuation, serious gas entrainment, and formation of frozen shell pieces at the meniscus. Thus, in the current study, a three-dimensional multiphase turbulent model was established to study the transport phenomena during centrifugal continuous casting process. The effects of nozzle position, casting and rotational speed on the flow pattern, centrifugal force acting on the molten steel, level fluctuation, gas entrainment, shear stress on mold wall, and motion of inclusions during centrifugal continuous casting process were investigated. Volume of Fluid model was used to simulate the molten steel-air two-phase. The level fluctuation and the gas entrainment during casting were calculated by user-developed subroutines. The trajectory of inclusions in the rotating system was calculated using the Lagrangian approach. The results show that during centrifugal continuous casting, a large amount of gas was entrained into the molten steel, and broken into bubbles of various sizes. The greater the distance to the mold wall, the smaller the centrifugal force. Rotation speed had the most important influence on the centrifugal force distribution at the side region. Angular moving angle of the nozzle with 8° and keeping the rotation speed with 60 revolutions per minute can somehow stabilize the level fluctuation. The increase of angular angle of nozzle from 8 to 18 deg and rotation speed from 40 to 80 revolutions per minute favored to decrease the total volume of entrained bubbles, while the increase of distance of nozzle moving left and casting speed had reverse effects. The trajectories of inclusions in the mold were irregular, and then rotated along the strand length. After penetrating a certain distance, the inclusions gradually moved to the center of billet and gathered there. More work, such as the heat transfer, the solidification, and the inclusions entrapment during centrifugal continuous casting, will be performed

Comparison of CFD Simulations with Experimental Measurements of Nozzle Clogging in Continuous Casting of Steels

Measurements of clog deposit thickness on the interior surfaces of a commercial continuous casting nozzle are compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions of melt flow patterns and particle-wall interactions to identify the mechanisms of nozzle clogging. A submerged entry nozzle received from industry was encased in epoxy and carefully sectioned to allow measurement of the deposit thickness on the internal surfaces of the nozzle. CFD simulations of melt flow patterns and particle behavior inside the nozzle were performed by combining the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach and detached eddy simulation turbulent model, matching the geometry and operating conditions of the industrial test. The CFD results indicated that convergent areas of the interior cross section of the nozzle increased the velocity and turbulence of the flowing steel inside the nozzle and decreased the clog deposit thickness locally in these areas. CFD simulations also predicted a higher rate of attachment of particles in the divergent area between two convergent sections of the nozzle, which matched the observations made in the industrial nozzle measurements