Multiphase Numerical Study of Meniscus Vortex Flows for Wide Range of Casting Speed in Water Model of Continuous Casting Mold Through Appropriate Modeling for Turbulence

Slag entrainments in a continuous casting mold result in serious defects in steel products. This slag entrainment is directly connected with the meniscus vortex accompanying a large meniscus deformation. To exactly evaluate the air or slag entrainments, it is critical that numerical studies can reproduce the meniscus vortex deformation. In our study, we found that Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulent models failed to reproduce the meniscus vortex deformation, and furthermore, the laminar model underestimated the meniscus vortex depth at high-casting conditions over 1.4 m/min. In this study, we proposed the hybrid and large eddy simulation models to correctly predict the distortion for real physics of the meniscus vortex. In contrast to the laminar and RANS turbulent models, the proposed models show strong agreement with the experiment even in high-casting conditions.