Numerical Investigation of Free-Surface Flows under the Influence of Magnetic Fields

Abstract

The effect of a transverse magnetic field on the laminar free surface flow of liquid steel in a generic direct strip casting (DSC) equipment is investigated numerically. The computational approach is based on the OpenFOAM library. The Navier–Stokes equations are solved using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The computational results are verified against analytical solutions for fully developed film flows exposed to a constant magnetic field. Subsequently, the effect of the magnetic field on the homogenization of flow disturbances in open channel flows is demonstrated. To elucidate this, different forms of disturbances have been considered: First, a spatially varying but stationary inflow velocity profile resembling a blockage-induced flow maldistribution is imposed. In the second case, a temporal and spatial randomized variation of the velocity is imposed. It is shown, that a magnetic field with moderate interaction parameter effectively reduces the amplitude of these disturbances. Without magnetic field, they are transported far downstream with no significant attenuation, which may lead to undesirable variations of the strip thickness after solidification.