Applications of numerical simulation to continuous casting technology

The continuous casting process in steel production is a highly efficient and productive process. Since this process was first applied to steel foundations, rapid progress has been made. Recently, trends in continuous casting have been focused on near net shape casting, high speed casting and the adoption of electromagnetic processes. These systems involve many coupled phenomena such as fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, solidification and electromagnetic phenomena. Because of the interplay between the underlying phenomena, it is very difficult to understand these systems systematically. Consequently there are many unresolved technical problems. In order to analyze fluid flow, heat and mass transfer and solidification simultaneously, the finite volume method (FVM) with body fitted coordinate (BFC) is first used. The finite element method (FEM) code is applied to the analysis of the deformation of solid shell and mold, and electromagnetic fields. Some groups are trying to couple microsegregation with macrosegregation, and develop algorithms that can be applied to multicomponent solidification. In addition, a combined analysis of all the above-mentioned phenomena is being developed. In the future, caster design and on-line control of continuous casing processes based on numerical simulation will be even more important.