Heat transfer behaviour of funnel mould copper plates during thin slab continuous casting and channel structure optimization

The heat transfer in funnel mold during thin slab continuous casting is rather complex and sensitive that the flow and temperature of cooling water as well as the roughness of channel walls may have significant influences on it. Herein, a 3-D heat transfer model of funnel copper plates coupling with the flow of cooling water in the channels was developed with the consideration of the fluid-solid interaction. The results show that the interfacial heat flux between the copper plate and cooling water decreases significantly with the increase of distance from channel root, and the temperature distribution of mold lower part is more uneven than that of the upper part. According to the magnitude and distribution of mold temperature, structure of mold copper plates like fillet radius and depth of concave channel, length of circular channels in wide face and roughness of channel wall were optimized.