AbstractA strand guide for a continuous casting plant includes

roller supporting and guiding the strand. Rollers in steel continuous

casting system are one of the supporting parts of produced strand in
casting molds are capable to tolerate mechanical and thermal
stresses. They are designed and produced of various steel materials
with internal and external cooling system. Casting rollers are divided
into different types according to cooling system such as: a) central
cooling b) revolver cooling c) spiral cooling. The main objective of
designing and presenting this work are the need for changing the
design of available rollers, existing outdated cooling system in
rollers, weakness of rollers base and the need of thermal and
mechanical calculation for optimum design of rollers cooling
system, with attention to limitation of cover thickness and calculation
of mechanical stress tolerance after implementation of optimum
system with attention to weakness of rollers base. At the end of this
work, qualitative and quantitative comparison of existing and
improved thermal state using FLUENT software will be presented.
Therefore, user can use extracted information of this project for
designing cooling method and making decision about them.
According to this modern design, it is expected that the cover of
these rollers has longer lifetime than old system.

KeywordsContinuous casting, internal cooling, roller, revolver
cooling, central cooling, Mobarakeh Steel Company (M.S.C).
I. INTRODUCTION
TRAND guide for a continuous casting plant includes
roller supporting and guiding the strand. (See Fig. 1) A
strand guide framework for supporting a partially solidified
strand in a continuous casting installation, especially for
casting slabs, comprising a number of rollers mounted within
the maximum slab width. Several types of roller tables for the
secondary cooling zone in continuous casting plants for slabs
are used in different steel company. Casting rollers are divided

A. Ahmadi Nadooshan is with the Mechanical Engineering Department,
Islamic Azad University, Majlessi Branch, Isfahan, Iran (e-mail:
afshin.ahmadi@gmail.com).
A. Saeedi is Steel Making Specialist with Mobararakeh Steel Company,
84816-161, Isfahan, Iran.
M. Rasooli is Research & Development Specialist with Mobararakeh Steel
Company, 84816-161, Isfahan, Iran (E-mail: mojtaba.rasooli@gmail.com).
J. Izadi is Research & Development Manager with Mobararakeh Steel
Company, 84816-161, Isfahan, Iran.
M. Poursina is with Mobararakeh Steel Company, 84816-161, Isfahan,
Iran.
into different types according to cooling system such as: a)
central cooling b) revolver cooling c) spiral cooling. The main
objective of designing and presenting this work are the need
for changing the design of available rollers, existing outdated
cooling system in rollers, weakness of rollers base and the
need of thermal and mechanical calculation for optimum
design of rollers cooling system, with attention to limitation
of cover thickness and calculation of mechanical stress
tolerance after implementation of optimum system with
attention to weakness of rollers base.



Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of strand guide
II. CONTINUOUS CASTING PROCESS
Steel continuous casting process is demonstrated in Fig. 2.
The components of the steel continuous casting system are the
ladle, tundish, mold, and cooling systems (see Fig.2).
Continuous casting of steel is a process in which liquid steel is
continuously solidified into a strand of metal. Depending on
the dimensions of the strand, these products are called slab,
bloom or billet.
Calculation of Possibility for Parameter Design
in Changing Central Cooling System to
Revolver Cooling System for Continuous
Casting Rollers
Afshin Ahmadi Nadooshan, Ali Saeedi, Mojtaba Rasooli, Jahandar Izadi, and Mehdi Poursina
S
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Fig. 2 Schematic of Steel Processing including ladle, tundish,
continuous casting and support roll

Liquid steel is supplied to the continuous caster from the
steelmaking shop. The ladle is usually delivered by crane and
positioned into a ladle turret, which subsequently rotates the
ladle into the casting locus. A slide entrance in the bottom of
the ladle is opened to gate allow the liquid steel to flow into a
tundish. As the tundish fills, stopper rods are raised and then
allow the casting of steel into a set of copper mold.
Solidification begins at the mold walls. As it leaves the mold,
the strand of steel requires a sufficiently thick solid shell to
carry the weight of the liquid steel. Throughout the entire
casting process, the mold oscillates vertically in order to
separate the solidified steel from the water-cooled copper
mold. The strand is reserved from the mold by a set of support
rolls which guide the steel through an arc until the steel strand
is horizontal. The rolls have to be positioned close enough
together to avoid breaking of the thin shell. As the steel leaves
the mold, it has only a thin solidified shell which needs further
cooling to complete the solidification process. This is
achieved in the secondary cooling zone, in which a system of
water sprays located between the rolls is used to deliver a
water mist onto the steel surface. Flow in the mold is of great
interest because it influences many important phenomena,
which have far-reaching consequences on strand quality.
These effects include the dissipation of superheat, the flow
and entrainment of the top surface powder layers, top surface
contour and level fluctuations, and the entrapment of
subsurface inclusions and gas bubbles. Design compromises
are needed to simultaneously satisfy the contradictory
requirements for avoiding each of these defect mechanisms.
Steel flows into the mold through ports in the submerged entry
nozzle, which is usually bifurcated. Nozzle geometry greatly
affects the flow in the mold and is easy to change, so is an
important subject of mathematical modeling. The jet leaving
the nozzle flows across the mold and impinges against the
shell solidifying at the narrow face. The flow pattern depends
on the casting conditions. It also can fluctuate with time.
Choosing the right combination of casting speed and
secondary cooling rate is of the importance. This choice will
influence many different parameters during casting and is one
of the key choices for getting a good quality cast. One
parameter that is directly influenced by this choice is the
metallurgical length.
III. MOBARAKEH STEEL COMPANY
Mobarakeh Steel Company is the largest industrial complex
in the Islamic Republic of Iran and has been established and
commissioned after the victory of the Islamic revolution and
entered into operational stage in early 1993. This company is
located at 65 kms from south west of Esfahan which covers a
land of 35 kms and has an annul capacity of over than 4.2
Mt/years of flat steel products ranging in thickness from 0.18
mm to 16 mm in the from of hot and cold rolled coils and
sheets, tinplate sheets and coils, Galvanized and prepainted
coils. The iron ore or raw material for Mobarakeh Steel
Company is supplied from Golgohar and Chadermaloo mines
and is transported to MSC by rail and after discharging in car
dumper it is shifted to raw material storage yard. Iron ore
powder should be converted into pellets in palletizing plant
with diameters of 8 mm to 10 mm. The endured iron oxide
pellets after reducing in direct reduction planet and removing
oxygen will be converted into DRI (sponge iron). The sponge
iron along with iron scrap would be melted in electric arc
furnaces. The liquid steel after discharging from furnaces shall
be stirred and purified in secondary purification unit. The
chemical compound of steel should be produced according to
customers order and then transported to casting machines for
producing slab. The slabs after cooling and conditioning will
be transferred to Hot rolling mill and this unit these slabs are
preheated and then are rolled in different phases for producing
hot coils of 1.5 mm to 16mm in thickness that a part of which
will be shipped to the market and the rest would be transferred
to Hot finishing mill for performing complementary works
and changing the hot coil into hot sheet or is sent to cold
rolling mill for decreasing the thickness of strip up 0.18mm. A
part of cold rolled coils would be dedicated for tinning,
Galvanizing, and prepainting lines and in these lines they are
processed for delivering to domestic and word wide markets.
This complex is consisted of different plant units, out of
which 10 plant unit are considered as the main production line
and the rest are rated as the auxiliary and back up units

Steel Making and Continuous Casting Plant
The Steel Making and Continuous Casting Plant have eight
electric arc furnaces receiving sponge iron and other additives.
They are melted with about 15% scrap in the furnace, which
has a capacity of 180-200 tons. The plant also has four ladle
furnaces and one (to be doubled) degassing vessel, used to
adjust the final chemical mix and purity, as well as adjusting
casting temperature. Additionally, there are four continuous
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slab casting machines, each having two arc casting strands.
They produce the plants final product, called slabs. These
slabs are 10 m in length, 20 cm in thickness and 65-188 cm
(adjustable) width. The steel making plant comprises the
following units:

Material handling
electric arc furnaces
Secondary metallurgy, ladle furnace treatment and
ladle total service
Continuous casting of the slab
Slab cooling and conditioning plant

Material Handling Unit
The function of this area is to condition, load, store and
distribute all of the raw materials and additives needed by the
electric arc furnaces and secondary metallurgy in accordance
to the technical specifications.

Electric Arc Furnace Unit
This unit comprises 8 electric arc furnaces with the
production capacity of 180 ton liquid steel with a transformer
capacity of 90 MVA. In the beginning, the scrap is loaded in
baskets by the special cranes and carried to the electric arc
furnace where the basket is unloaded, the roof of the EAF is
closed and melting operations start. In this stage the scrap is
melted by the electric arcs. This stage is called boring. Then
the sponge iron charge enters the furnace from the relevant
silos. The amount of the charged scrap to the furnace in
baskets is 40 to 50 tons, and the amount of the sponge iron
charged into the furnace is about 170 tons per heat. The rate of
the charge is 500-3200 kg/minute with due consideration of
the heat conditions.

Ladle Furnace Unit
This unit comprises 4 ladle furnaces with the power of 30
MVA and each ladle furnace has 6 bins with the capacity of 9
cubic meters in which materials such as low carbon
ferromanganese and high carbon ferromanganese, ferrosilicon
lime and calcium aluminates is stored in them.

Continuous Casting Plant
The function of this unit is to transform the liquid steel to
slab ingots with standard qualities in accordance to customer
orders, and delivering it to the slab cooling and conditioning
unit. This unit has four two strand casting machines of arc
type with the radius of 10.50 meters the dimensions of which
are as follows:

Width: 650 1880 mm
Length: 9.510 m (long), 4.54.75 m (short)
Thickness: 200 cm

The ladle containing liquid steel is transferred on 300 ton
overhead shop cranes through secondary metallurgy plant to
the continuous casting plant. Each melt bears a 6-digit number
which allows the entire melt information to be traced through
the MIS, including chemical analysis, temperatures, times,
quality and so forth. In the continuous casting plant, the liquid
steel containing ladle first stops over the turret and after the
connection to the hydraulic cylinder to the ladle sliding gate,
and the alignment of the tundish car on the casting rails the
liquid steel flow starts from the ladle to the tundish upon the
opening of the sliding gate, and by opening the stopper, the
melt flow into the mould will start. At first there is a pause for
a few seconds for the outer shell of the melt to solidify, to
form the initial solid shell, and then the continuous casting
process starts, and the resultant slab, then passes through the
clearance between the rollers of the rolling mill being sprayed
water on for cooling as a result of which the solidification
from grows inside the slab and will continue until the slab
gains the desired metallurgical length when solidification
occurs in the entire profile of the slab. In perpetuation, upon
the arrival of the slab to the slab cutting unit where it is cut
with measures already taken to result in as little wastage as
possible. After the slab gets out of the cutting machine, a 9-
digit figure is inscribed onto it by the numbering machine for
the tracing and identification of the slab. Upon the completion
of the first heat, the second ladle which locates on the other
side of the turret the turret is brought overhead of the tundish
and immediately the ladle is opened so that the continuity of
the casting operation is maintained.
IV. SYSTEMS FOR CONTINUOUS CASTING ROLLERS
A strand guide for a continuous casting plant includes roller
supporting and guiding the strand. Each roller has a cavity
through which a coolant. They are designed and produced of
various steel materials with internal and external cooling
system. Casting rollers are divided into different types
according to internal cooling system such as:

Central cooling
Revolver cooling
Spiral cooling



Fig. 3 Continuous casting roller with central cooling device

In this article, we focused on internal cooling device for
caster roller and various internal cooling devices were
compared and reviewed. The reason for this is that the cooler
roll compared to the conventional roll has reduced bending
which results in reduced crack propagation. This leads to safer
strand guiding . In general we work according to this
principle: better internal cooling, better crack resistance and
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higher lifetime expectation. The product of our scope of
supply, especially focusing on cost benefit value, is the
revolver roll. This type of roll demonstrates a superior cooling
behavior compared to central cooled rolls.



Fig. 4 Continuous casting roller with Revolver cooling device
V. GENERAL HEAT CONDUCTION EQUATIONS
Fourier lows define the different modes of heat exchange.
The heating induces a thermal flow which extends over the
whole cylinder by conduction:

t
T
c Q T K

= + (1)

where Q is the thermal flow, the density of the material, c
the specific heat of the material and k the thermal conductivity
of material. The general equations of heat conduction in the
cylindrical coordinate systems shown in Fig. 7 can be derived
by performing an energy balance.

t
T
c q
z
T
k
z
T
k
r
r
T
kr
r r

= +

) ( ) (
1
) (
1
2
(2)

In equation (2), q is the volumetric energy addition (W/m
3
),
the density of the material (kg/m
3
), and c the specific heat
(J/kg K) of the material. The boundary conditions are
imposed by the different cooling flow. For example, for inner
surface (in central cooling system), the heat flow is
determined by the following equation:

)
(
m s j
R r
T T h
r
T
k
i
=

=
=
(3)

T
m
is the fluid temperature (water); T
s
is the surface
temperature; h
j
is the surface heat transfer coefficient. The
material parameters such as C, K and are well known for
each temperature range and material.


3233Fig. 5 Control volumes in cylindrical coordinates
VI. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
Figs. 6 and 7 show temperature distribution in roller with
using different internal cooling systems (Central cooling and
Revolver cooling).

-0.25 -0.15 -0.05 0.05 0.15 0.25
Radi us
Temperat ur e
CENTRAL COOLING
REVOLVER COOLING

Fig. 6 Roller temperature distribution with using different internal
cooling systems (Roller diameter: 0.25 meter)

Conventional caster rollers (central cooling) require
external spray cooling to prevent roller surfaces from
overheating during casting. Even after the slab has entered the
horizontal part of the caster where external spray cooling is no
longer required, water must still be continually sprayed onto
the roller surfaces to prevent roller failure. This is undesirable
as it can lead to overcooling, inhomogeneous cooling, and
adverse metallurgical conditions, resulting in possible slab de-
formation, bearing damage and quality deterioration. For these
reasons, some companies commenced with the development
of a new generation of caster rollers which no longer require
external spray-water cooling. Following extensive
investigations at slab casters, an optimized solution was
implemented in which cooling water from the roll center is
directed to the peripheral zones of the roller. The water then
flows through a series of near-surface channels bored through
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the roller body, effectively cooling the roller surface to an
acceptable temperature range. The Revolver Roller is the ideal
roller for the horizontal zone of the caster where the strand no
longer requires external spray cooling. The lifetime of the
segments is extended as corrosion from the effects of water
does not take place. Slab cooling become equal, thus
supporting uniform heat removal and strand solidification.

-0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Radi us
Temperat ur e
CENTRAL COOLING
REVOLVER COOLING

Fig.7 Roller temperature distribution with using different internal
cooling systems (Roller diameter: 0.3 meter)

The costs for the treatment of industrial water are reduced,
because the internal cooling water is recycled to the rollers,
less makeup water is required. Operational trend in continuous
casting is to super cool the strand in the upper part of the
machine in order to increase the range of casting speeds, both
for high speed continuous casting as well as for low speed
continuous casting as required for the production of crack
sensitive steel grades such as paratactic steels. When the
strand is overcooled, torch cutting may take too long,
requiring a reduction in the continuous casting speed, which
reduces productivity. With the elimination of external roller
cooling in the horizontal machine section, the slab surface is
reheated prior to slab cutting due to the remainder heat from
the inner section of the slab. Furthermore, the higher
temperature of the slabs exiting the machine allows energy
cost savings to be obtained during slab reheating for plants
with hot rolling operations. Revolver Rollers are the ideal
solution for numerous casting applications. In existing slab
casters experiencing problems with roller spray cooling,
Revolver rollers can replace conventional rollers. Figure (8)
show roller temperature distribution as a function of angular
for different internal cooling systems (Central cooling and
Revolver cooling).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the
Research and Development Department at Esfahans
Mobarakeh Steel Company.


0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Angle (Degr ee)
Temp
R=150
R=145
R=135

a) Central cooling device

0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Angle (Degr ee)
Temp
R=150
R=145
R=135

b) Revolver cooling device

Fig.8 Roller temperature angular distribution at different radius
(Roller diameter: 0.3 meter)
VII. REFERENCES
[1] B.G. Thomas, "Modeling of the Continuous Casting of Steel: Past,
Present, and Future, Dr. J. Keith rimacombe Lecture," Metal. & Material
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simulation (manual), University of Liverpool, 2005
[4] P. Revel, D. Kircher and V. Bogard, Experimental and numerical
simulation of a stainless steel coating subjected to thermal fatigue,
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