On Some Positive Effects of the Swirling Flow for Continuous Casting

Continuous caster mould is the last and important
stage in the steelmaking process where inclusions
can be either generated or removed. With increasing
casting speed using conventional immersion nozzles
critical problems, such as unstable bulk mould flow,
have been noticed. Mould flux entrapment due to
vortex and shearing action from the oscillating
surface waves have become of particular concern. It
is, therefore, necessary to have a calm inlet flow at
the entrance of the mould.

Recently, it has been acknowledged that a swirl blade
placed at the upstream end of the nozzle effectively
resolves these problems. Therefore, to increase our
knowledge on swirling flow fundamental mathematical
models of a billet mould equipped with a swirl blade
in the nozzle have been developed. The model is used
to study the effects of changing nozzle tilt angle
and mould aspect ratio on heat and mass transfer in
the round and square moulds. Data from water model
experiments are used to verify the mathematical model
predictions. A fairly good agreement between physical
modeling data and predictions was found, which
ensured that the numerical models are reliable.

Autorentext
Shavkat Kholmatov was born in Khujand, Tajikistan. From the early years Shavkat was passionate in learning science and pursued an engineering career. He obtained his MSc degree from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm in 2005. And since July 2008 he has been working at Corus CRDT in IJmuiden, Netherlands.

Klappentext
Continuous caster mould is the last and important stage in the steelmaking process where inclusions can be either generated or removed. With increasing casting speed using conventional immersion nozzles critical problems, such as unstable bulk mould flow, have been noticed. Mould flux entrapment due to vortex and shearing action from the oscillating surface waves have become of particular concern. It is, therefore, necessary to have a calm inlet flow at the entrance of the mould. Recently, it has been acknowledged that a swirl blade placed at the upstream end of the nozzle effectively resolves these problems. Therefore, to increase our knowledge on swirling flow fundamental mathematical models of a billet mould equipped with a swirl blade in the nozzle have been developed. The model is used to study the effects of changing nozzle tilt angle and mould aspect ratio on heat and mass transfer in the round and square moulds. Data from water model experiments are used to verify the mathematical model predictions. A fairly good agreement between physical modeling data and predictions was found, which ensured that the numerical models are reliable.