Numerical analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in molten zinc pot of continuous hot-dip galvanizing line

A numerical model adopting a partially staggered grid system for the locati on of dependent variables has been developed to analyze the fluid flow and temperature distributions in a molten zinc pot of No. 2 CGL of POSCO Kwangy ang strip mills. A control volume based finite difference procedure was emp loyed to solve the conservation equations transformed by using the boundary -fitted-coordinate (BFC) system. The calculation results have shown that a change in the steel strip velocity has little influence on the overall flow pattern developed in the pot. The overall temperature distribution was rat her uniform as predicted. However, charging cold ingots directly into the p ot produced a non-uniform distribution of temperature. The local temperatur e fluctuations will promote the formation of intermetallic dress particles, it has been proposed that the non-uniform distribution of temperature coul d be reduced by selecting an appropriate channel inductor position as well as by optimizing the zinc ingot loading position.