THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE TUNDISH WATER MODEL OF CONTINUOUS CASTING

Whereas approximately 96.3% of the steel produced worldwide is made by continuous casting, great emphasis is put on the superior efficiency of this process. The water model of the tundish and mathematical modeling is often used for the simulation of the steel flow during continuous casting. The experiments were performed on a model of the tundish with two outlets, at two casting speeds (0.8 m.s(-1) and 1.2 m.s(-1)). Eight setups of the tundish were evaluated, which differed in the design of the dams (with or without drainage holes), in their distance from the center of the tundish, and their height. The contribution of the work is the analysis of phenomena in the tundish water model in conditions of repeatability (ten repetitions). The goal is to find the setup providing the most symmetrical flow, with the minimum difference in the residence times Delta tau on the two outlets. Taking into account the results obtained at both casting speeds, the most preferred is setup 2 with the 87 mm high dams placed 587 mm from the center of tundish (Delta tau = 0.5). The setup 3 (Delta tau = 8.25) appears to be the least appropriate. The higher the casting speed, the higher the number of unsuitable arrangements.