PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL-MODELING OF STEEL FLOW AND HEAT-TRANSFER INTUNDISHES UNDER NONISOTHERMAL AND NONADIABATIC CONDITIONS

Steel flow and heat transfer in tundishes under non-isothermal and non -adiabatic conditions are physically and mathematically modeled. For t his purpose thermal step inputs in both types of models are applied an d temperature measurements as well as computations of flow a nd heat t ra nsf er at unsteady state are carried out. Experimental measurements of output responses to thermal step inputs fed in the tundish model a nd the transient solution of the three dimensional Navier-Stoke's equa tions keep a very good agreement. Isothermal lines of water model and those belonging to the prototype under non-adabatic conditions are not equivalent for the same thermal step input and this promotes differen t velocity fields of water in the model and liquid steel in the protot ype. As velocity fields have a direct influence on inclusions removal from steel to the covering tundish slag it is recommended to have caut ion on the employment of non-isothermal water models to interpret the actual behavior of steel flow and inclusions dynamics in industrial tu ndishes.