Transient Fluid Flow Phenomena during Continuous Casting: Part I—Cast Start

Abstract

This work presents a three-dimensional numerical simulation of transient fluid flow phenomena during continuous casting of steel. In the Part I, the process of cast start was investigated. Cast start involved the filling process and the caster start process. In the filling process, molten steel was continuously filled into the mold cavity with surrounding mold walls and a dummy bar head at the bottom. To simulate the interface between the molten steel and the air, an algorithm of volume of fluid has been employed. In the cast start process, the dummy bar was gradually dragged out with a low casting speed. The movement of dummy bar was represented using dynamic mesh, and the moving speed of the boundary was controlled by a subroutine. The shape of the air/steel surface was tracked over the time, and the speed variation at a series of points close to the surface was monitored to reflect the fluctuation at top surface during cast start.