Numerical Investigation of Inclusion Behaviour in a Multi-Strand Tundish During Strand Blockages

Abstract

Inclusion removal in the continuous casting tundish is an essential technology for production of high-grade steels. In the present study, a three dimensional numerical investigation has been carried out on six strand delta shape tundish. The aim of the work is to investigate the inclusion entrapment and removal phenomenon in a tundish. A parametric study has been carried out to study the behavior of the inclusions in a steelmaking tundish and the results have been compared on the basis of densities and diameters of inclusions. Bare tundish as well as a tundish occupied with Advance Pouring Box (APB) have been studied to predict the transport behavior of inclusion particles. Further, effect of strand blockages has been considered. The turbulent Navier–Stokes equations have been solved to predict the flow velocity distributions and inclusion trajectories were calculated using a Lagrangian particle tracking method. The numerical results were validated using available experimental results and found to be in good agreement. The results indicate that the use of APB has changed the fluid flow pattern and consequently the inclusion particles movement. The density of inclusion particles plays an important role. It has been seen that low dense particles have higher chances to get trapped or removed from tundish. It was also found that larger diameter of inclusion particles have more chances of floatation.