Computational Investigation of Solidification Behaviour of Steel Billet of Square Cross Section in Continuous Casting

Abstract

The purpose of this paper spotlights the solidification behavior of continuous casting process of a rectangular steel billet with square cross section. The parametric investigation of solidification process during continuous casting is carried out by mathematical modelling of solidification and melting process. The solidification-melting model united with volume of fluid (VOF) model. The simulation was done with computational package Ansys Inc. FLUENT 19.0 R3 software. The validation of the model was done for present study. The solidification behaviour is analyzed by estimating the temperature, velocity and liquid fraction inside the mould at different pouring temperatures and different inlet velocities. The uniform velocity and temperature profiles are observed with increased in inlet velocity at constant pouring temperature. The uniform temperature and velocity distribution inside the mould suggested the uniform solidification propagation which was justified by liquid fraction profile inside the mould.  The temperatures of the wall also effect the propagation of solidification. The better solidification behavior is observed at .0175 m/s inlet velocity and 1803 K pouring temperature at 1118 K constant wall temperature. It can be illustrated from the present study that the modelling of this study is used to recognize the affect of pouring velocity and temperature on solidification process inside the mould. The temperature, velocity and liquid fraction variation inside the mould are achieved and used to optimize the pouring velocity and temperature for better casting product.