Fluid Flow and Mixing in Non-Isothermal Water Model of Continuous Casting Tundish Original Research Article

Fluid flow and mixing of molten steel in a twin-slab-strand continuous casting tundish were investigated using a mixing model under non-isothermal conditions. This model led to a set of ordinary differential equations that were solved with a Runge-Kutta algorithm. Steady state water modeling was carried out under non-isothermal conditions. Experimental data obtained from the water model were used to calibrate the mixing model. Owing to the presence of a mixed convection in the non-isothermal conditions, a channelizing flow would be created in the fluid inside the tundish. A mixing model was designed that was capable of predicting RTD (residence time distribution) curves for different cases in non-isothermal conditions. The relationship between RTD parameters and the Tu (tundish Richardson number) was obtained for various cases under non-isothermal conditions. The results show that the RTD parameters were completely different under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions. The comparison of the RTD curves between the isothermal and non-isothermal conditions presents that the extent of mixing in the tundish in nonisothermal conditions is lower than the mixing extent in isothermal conditions.