Heat removal analysis on steel billets and slabs produced by continuous casting using numerical simulation

A Ramírez-López,M A Romero-Romo,M Palomar-Pardavé,D Muñoz-Negrón,J Gonzalez-Trejo

doi:10.1007/s00170-017-0556-y

Abstract

Simulation of a continuous casting process (CCP) is very important for improving industrial practices, reducing working times, and assuring safety operating conditions. The present work is focused on the development of a computational simulator to calculate and analyze heat removal during continuous casting of steel; routines for reading the geometrical configuration and operating conditions were developed for an easy management. Here, a finite difference method is used to solve the steel thermal behavior using a 2D computational array. Conduction, radiation, and forced convection equations are solved to simulate heat removal according to a steel position along the continuous casting machine. A graphical user interface (GUI) was also developed to display virtual sketches of the casting machines; moreover, computational facilities were programmed to show results such as temperature and solidification profiles. The results are analyzed and validated by comparison with industrial trials; finally, the influence of some industrial parameters such as casting speed and quenching conditions is analyzed to provide some recommendations in order to warrant safety operating conditions.

Highlights

The continuous casting process (CCP) is the most popular method to produce big volumes of steel in commercial sections without interruption
The computational efforts are not absolutely required. This difference was obtained after a heat removal calculation of a squared steel billet form (114 × 114 mm), using a squared mesh with 100 × 100 nodes which was cast in a continuous casting machine (CCM) at 2.25 m/min
The mesh with 25,000 nodes provides an acceptable approach for slabs; the use of a finer mesh is recommended to obtain better approached results for slab analysis cases (Tables 8, 9, and 10)

Summary

Introduction

The continuous casting process (CCP) is the most popular method to produce big volumes of steel in commercial sections (billets, blooms, and slabs) without interruption. This new version includes the creation of new reading data tools and the inclusion of more complex comparisons to apply the corresponding heat removal condition to the volume of steel simulated.

Results

Conclusion