Author(s)

J. Stetina, F. Kavicka, B. Sekanina, J. Dobrovska & J. Heger

Abstract

Solidification and cooling of a continuously cast steel billet is a very complicated problem of transient heat and mass transfer. The solving of such a problem is impossible without a numerical model of the temperature field, not only of the concasting itself while it is being processed through the caster but of the mold as well. This process is described by the Fourier-Kirchhoff equation. An original 3D numerical off-line model of the temperature field of a caster has been developed. It has graphical input and output - automatic generation of the net and plotting of temperature fields in the form of color iso-therms and iso-zones, and temperature-time curves for any point of the system being investigated. This numerical model is capable of simulating the temperature field of a caster as a whole, or any of its parts. Experimental research and data acquisition have to be conducted simultaneously with the numerical computation—not only to confront it with the actual numerical model, but also to make it more accurate throughout the process. After computation, it is possible to obtain the temperatures at each node of the network, and at each time of the process. The utilization of the numerical model of solidification and cooling of a concasting plays an indispensable role in practice. The potential change of technology—on the basis of computation—is constantly guided by the effort to optimize, i.e. to maximize the quality of the process. Keywords: concasting, solidification, temperature field, numerical model.

Keywords

concasting, solidification, temperature field, numerical model.