Numerical simulation of liquid steel flow and behaviour of non-metallic inclusions in one-strand slab tundish with subflux turbulence controller and gas permeable barrier

The paper presents computation results from the simulation of liquid steel flow in a one-strand slab tundish used in a Polish steel plant. This is a wedge type tundish with a depression in the bottom of the discharge zone. Fluent software was used for solving the mathematical model of the casting process, and Euler-Lagrange description was chosen for the description of interactions between the continuous phase (liquid steel) and the discrete phase (inert gas). To verify the mathematical model and the numerical simulation results, test results obtained from industrial experiments were applied. The internal geometry of the facility under consideration was changed by two types of flow control devices, a subflux turbulence controller and a gas permeable barrier mounted on the tundish bottom. A number of variants were tested including flowrate and position of the argon. For all variants of modification, the quantity of non-metallic inclusions removed from liquid steel has been obtained.