MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL MODELING OF SYSTEMS FOR METAL DELIVERY IN THE CONTINUOUS-CASTING OF STEEL AND DC CASTING OF ALUMINUM

In the continuous casting of steel, various nozzles have been used (e. g., bifurcated nozzles with ports inclined at various angles to the ho rizontal) to deliver metal from the tundish into the easter. An even g reater variety of devices is used in the case of semi-continuous (dire ct chill (DC) or electromagnetic (EM)) casting of aluminum, for exampl e, nozzles delivering metal into bags of various designs. The paper de scribes a physical (water) model whereby particle image velocimetry ha s been used to measure velocities. These measured velocities are compa red to ones predicted using computational fluid dynamics. Conclusions are reached concerning the validity of the computations and recommenda tions made about improvement in casting operations by modification of melt flow. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.