The problem of predicting the solidification front and the temperature field for the case of the continuous-casting process is of great practical importance. Due to the release of latent heat during the change of phase, such a problem is non-linear and considerably more difficult to solve than the corresponding single-phase problem. The present work introduces a numerical algorithm which is used in the development of a non-linear transient thermal analysis finite-element program, based on the goal of simulating the foundry casting process, with the inherent phenomena of solidification and phase changes. The continuous-casting problem was investigated experimentally in 1953 by Brandt et al., who used thermocouples in the mould and mould cavity. Their experimentally measured isochronal solidification profiles for low-carbon steel cast into simple "L"-shaped sand moulds are matched in the present work by calculations from a finite-element program, with appropriate physical assumptions. The computations from the heat-transfer model agree with the experimental results with respect to the shape of the isochronal solidification profiles, the time of solidification, the thermal gradients and the temperature profiles. © 1990.
