Two-Phase Numerical Modeling of Grade Intermixing in a Steelmaking Tundish

Abstract

The sequential casting of slabs is a major trend in the steel industry where steel quality is the most important factor. The operating parameters have the most influence on mixing phenomenon apart from the design and shapes of the tundish and its furniture. Moreover, in industrial practice, the bath height in tundish varied with time when the ladle is changed. In the present work, the numerical simulation has been carried out to study the effect of residual volume and outflow (throughput) rate on the mixing phenomenon inside the tundish. A transient, three-dimensional two-phase model using the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method and Level Set interface tracking method has been used to investigate the intermixed grade steel formation. A comparison of the two interface tracking schemes, i.e., Geo-reconstruct and Modified HRIC (High-Resolution Interface Capturing Scheme) has also been presented. The results obtained through numerical simulation has been compared with experimental results. In a later section, the results showed that residual volume has a significant effect on the grade mixing. The mixing phenomenon in tundish is considerably influenced by the advance-pouring box (APB). Further, the outflow rate of tundish has little impact on the grade intermixing phenomenon.