16th IFAC Symposium on Automation in Mining, Mineral

and Metal Processing

August 25-28, 2013. San Diego, California, USA

Mold level stabilization using a standing wave model

in continuous casting
Hiroyuki Shimamoto*. Kazuya Asano*.
Kentaro Okazaki**
*Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan
(e-mail: h-shimamoto@jfe-steel.co.jp)
** Fukuyama Works, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan

Abstract: In continuous steel casting plants, it is very important to stabilize the molten steel level in the
mold for quality of the final products and productivity. Standing waves in the mold cause periodic molten
steel level fluctuations, which can deteriorate the product quality and productivity. Nevertheless, there
has not been any effective countermeasure for them, because they are different from other disturbances in
the sense that they are not changes in the flow rate of the molten steel and hence should not be controlled
by manipulating the mass flow. This paper proposes a standing wave model and a mold stabilization
technique that can prevent harmful influence of standing waves. This technique can prevent interactions
between the mold level control and the standing waves in the mold by removing standing wave
components from the original mold level signal. On-line experimental results have shown good
performance and this technique has been in practical use in a continuous steel casting process in JFE.
Keywords: Continuous Caster, Mold Level Stabilization, Steel Industry, Steel-making
(Rackers et al, 1995) and variations in the casting speed and
the tundish weight. In these disturbances, many studies have
been brought for bulging (Asano et al, 1998, Jabri et al, 2008,
Kim et al, 2011). On the other hand, there are few studies for
standing waves.

1. INTRODUCTION
The steel consumption of the world has increased enormously
in the last few years, especially in Asia. To meet this demand,
many studies and developments for the continuous casting
processes have been carried out to increase throughput and
quality of the final products.
Continuous casting is the process whereby molten steel is
solidified into slabs or billets for subsequent rolling processes.
In this process, the molten steel is continuously cast into the
water-cooled mold and the solidified steel is withdrawn from
the underside of the mold in a long strand. The molten steel
level in the mold is controlled around its setpoint by
manipulating the inflow to the mold to maintain the quality of
the products. When the mold level fluctuates significantly,
mold casting powder and other impurities floating on the
surface of molten steel are entrapped in the solidifying steel.
These phenomena have harmful influence on quality of the
final products. Therefore, if the mold level fluctuation is
larger than the acceptable limit, the operators have to
gradually decrease the casting speed, which leads to lower
productivity. In order to prevent these suboptimal situations,
a large number of studies for stabilization of the mold level
have been conducted in recent years (Furtmueller et al, 2006,
Dussud et al, 1998, Kitada et al, 1998).
In general, the disturbances in the mold level control are
classified as periodic and non-periodic (Furtmueller et al,
2008). Periodic disturbances include bulging, standing waves
and oscillations of the mold itself. Non-periodic disturbances
include the collection and discharge of deposits in the nozzle
978-3-902823-42-7/2013 IFAC

430

This paper describes a technique for preventing adverse

effects of standing waves. As mentioned above, standing
waves are periodic disturbances but in contrast to bulging,
they should not be controlled by manipulating the inflow to
the mold because they are not mass flow disturbances. The
proposed technique can prevent interactions between the
mold level control and standing waves by removing standing
wave components from the mold level signal.
2. THE CONTINUOUS CASTING PROCESS
First, to discuss a mold level stabilization method, a
continuous casting process should be explained. Fig 1 shows
a technological diagram of the mold level control. Molten
steel in a large vessel, ladle, is transported using a crane to
the continuous casting plant. The molten steel is poured from
the ladle into the tundish, which is a reservoir of liquid steel.
The molten steel flows from the tundish into the mold
through a sliding gate and a pipe (usually a submerged entry
nozzle, SEN). The walls of the mold are cooled by water. The
solidification of liquid steel starts inside the mold to form a
thin shell, which is extracted from the mold to form a strand
by pinch rolls that are placed at the secondary cooling zone.
In the secondary cooling zone, supported with rolls, the
strand is cooled by the water sprays to attain complete
solidification. Finally, the strand is cut into slabs with a

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August 25-28, 2013. San Diego, USA

prescribed length by a cutter. Fig. 1 shows the mold level

control scheme, too. The molten steel that flows from the
tundish into the mold is controlled with the sliding gate and
the molten steel level is measured by a level sensor. The
sliding gate position is manipulated by a servo driver based
on the control calculation of differences between the
prescribed level setpoint and the measured level.

Molten
Steel

exceeds the criterion of fluctuations for quality. Once this

happens, the operators decrease the casting speed. The width
of the mold l is 2100mm in this case, hence, the frequency of
standing waves is approximately 0.6Hz(m=1), 0.85Hz(m=2)
and 0.9Hz(m=3) that can be obtained from (1).
Fig. 4(a) and (b) show the power spectrum of the mold level
and the sliding gate position, respectively. In both figures, a
distinct peak can be observed at 0.6Hz. The frequency of the
first order standing waves (0.6Hz) coincides with the peak.
Hence, these fluctuations can be judged as standing waves.
This result also shows that the standing waves are enhanced
by the sliding nozzle manipulation.

Ladle
Tundish
Sliding Gate

Mold Level

20

Servo driver
of actuator

SEN

Controller
Mold

Sliding Gate

Level
Sensor
Spray

Secondly
Cooling
Zone

Casting Speed

Roll

Fig. 1. Scheme of continuous casting process

10

Set0
-10

-20

200

400

600

800

200

400

600

800

200

400

600

800

70
Open
60
50
40

Close
30
2.5
High
2
1.5

Low1

3. INFLUENCE OF STANDING WAVES ON THE MOLD

LEVEL CONTROL

Time(sec)

Fig. 3. Time-series data in the real process

3.1 Standing waves

(a) Mold Level

60

1
2

PSD(dB)

20
0
-20
-40

0.5

1.5

(b) Sliding Gate

60
40

m g
l

(1)

PSD(dB)

f =

40

As shown in Fig. 2, standing waves are waves that have

nodes and antinodes located always at the same position.
Therefore, the average molten steel surface is constant. One
of the causes of these phenomena is considered to be
unsymmetrical molten steel flows from the SEN, which has
bifurcated outlet ports. The frequency of standing waves is
calculated by the following theoretical equation.

where f is the frequency of standing waves, m is the mode, g

is the gravitational acceleration, and l is the width of the mold.

20
0
-20
-40

0.5

1.5

Frequency(Hz)

Fig. 4. Power spectral density of real process data

1st Order

2nd Order

3.2 Standing wave model

Fig. 2. An example of standing waves

In order to validate influence of standing waves on the mold

level control, a standing wave model is introduced. In this
study, we assume that the standing waves that have one mode
can be approximated by a pendulum model (Yano et al., 2001,
Noda et al., 2004), as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5, L is the
width of the mold, h is the level of static molten steel, h s is

Fig 3 shows a typical example of the time series data in an

actual continuous casting plant. In this case, as the casting
speed increases, the mold level fluctuates larger and finally,
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3.3 Standing wave observer

the fluctuation of static molten steel level. M denotes the

mass of the molten steel, c denotes the viscosity of molten
steel, l denotes the length of the pendulum and &x& is
acceleration that caused one mode standing waves.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of the proposed standing wave

observer. This observer can remove standing wave
components from the original mold level signal using an
observer-based filtering technique. This system consists of
the standing wave model and a PD controller. The difference
between the signal of the mold level sensor and the output of
the standing wave model is fed into the PD controller. The
observer is designed so that it can be excited only by a signal
corresponding to the standing wave, the frequency of which
is incorporated in the standing waves model. This system is
also able to output the estimated standing waves.

In Fig. 5, the following differential equation on holds.

ml 2

d 2
d (l )
= c
l cos 2 mgl sin m &x&l cos (2)
dt 2
dt

Then, the molten steel level is represented by the equation

hs =

L
tan
2

(3)

Fig. 7 and 8 show filtering effects of the standing waves

observer to the mold level signal in a real plant. In this case,
the damping factor is adjusted to 0.4 and fn is set to 0.6

Linearization of (2) and (3) gives the following:

&& =

c & g
1
+ &x&
m
l
l

since the frequency of the first order standing waves is 0.6Hz.

It is clear that this method can remove waves with a specific
frequency (0.6Hz) from the original mold level signal.

(4)

L
hs =
2

where . The transfer function of (4) is represented as

follows:
Signal of mold
level sensor

H (s)
K n
S x (s) = s
= 2
2
A( s )
s + 2 n n s + n

(5)

Estimated
standing wave

where
a ( t ) = &x&(t )

K =

L
2g

(6)
C
=
2m

L
2g

n =

Standing wave
model
2
s 2 + 2 11s + 1

g
L

PD controller

and the frequency of standing wave f n represented by follow.

Mold level signal without
standing wave

(7)

n = 2 f n

In this standing waves model (5) and (6), the damping

coefficient depends on both the viscosity of the molten

Fig. 6. Standing Wave observer

steel and the friction between the wall and the molten steel
However, this value is difficult to measure, therefore is
adjusted based on mold level simulation results. The angular
frequency ns is calculated by (1) and (7) and the width of the
Mold Level

mold.
hs

(a) Original signal

10
+
5
Set0

-5
-10

10

Mold Leve l

&x&

l
m
c

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90 100

(b) Signal using the observer

10
+
5
Set0

-5
-10

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90 100

Time (sec)

Fig. 7. Filtering effects by the standing wave observer

Fig. 5. Pendulum model for standing wave in the mold

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40

Disturbance

Original signal

PSD(dB)

20
Reference

PI
Controller

Sliding +
Nozzle

Mold

Mold
Level

Standing
Wave
Model

-20
-40

Using the observer

0

0.5

1.5

ON/OFF

Standing Wave
Observer

Frequency(Hz)

Level
Sensor

Fig. 8. Power spectral density of mold level signal with

standing waves observer

Fig. 9. Block scheme of simulator

Influence of the standing waves is examined by using a mold

level control simulator incorporated in both the standing
wave model and the standing wave observer. The block
diagram of the simulator is shown in Fig .9. The mold itself is
a simple reservoir and can be modelled as an integrator as
follows:

G mold ( s ) =

1
s

(7)

The sliding nozzle can be modelled as a gain, a first order lag,

and a delay. The delay combines the fall time of the liquid
steel in the nozzle and other delays of the servo system. G a
is the flow coefficient that determines characteristics of the
nozzle.
G e
G ac ( s ) = a
1 + TS s

(8)

20
100
0
10
5
0
-5
-10
0

(9)

40

60

80

100

120

20

40

60

80

100

120

20

40

60

80

100

120

Fig. 10. Simulation result without standing wave observer

(conventional)
(10)

Casting Speed
(mpm)

K PS + KI
s

20

Time(sec)

The following PI controller is applied:

GC (s) = K

1.6
0
140
60

M old Level
(mm)

GL
1 + TL s

2
1.8

120
40

The level sensor can be modelled as a simple gain and a first

order lag as follow:
G ss ( s ) =

2.2

Sliding Gate
(%)

ks

Fig. 10 shows simulation results without the standing wave

observer. In this case, as the casting speed is increasing, the
mold level fluctuations become larger by the excess sliding
nozzle manipulation and finally, the mold level becomes
unstable. Fig. 11 shows simulation results with the standing
wave observer. Even when the casting speed is increasing,
the standing waves are not enhanced by the sliding nozzle
manipulation and the mold level remains constant. The
results show that this technique can remove the standing
wave components from the mold level signal and can avoid
interactions between the fluctuation of molten steel level and
the sliding nozzle manipulation.
Casting Speed
(mpm)

3.4 Simulation results

A periodic signal with the same frequency as the standing

waves is added as the disturbance. A standing wave model
with the first order standing wave frequency is placed in
parallel with the mold model. The same model as previously
mentioned is applied to the standing wave model and the
standing wave. The damping factor both in the standing
wave model and the standing wave observer is set to 0.4. fn is

2.2
2
1.8

Sliding Gate
(%)

1.6
0
140
60
140

20

40

60

80

100

120

20

40

60

80

100

120

20
20

40
40

60
60

80
80

100
100

120
120

120
40

M old Level
(mm)

20
100
0
10
5
0
-5
-5
-10
-10
00

set to 0.6(Hz) according to the frequency of the disturbance.

This simulator has a switch that can select 'on/off' of the
function of the standing wave observer.

Time (sec)

Fig. 11. Simulation result with standing wave observer

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4. EXPERMENTAL RESULTS

Signal of mold level sensor

4.1 Control scheme in the real plant

The proposed control scheme has been incorporated in actual
continuous casting. Fig. 12 shows the control scheme in the
real plant. As shown in Fig. 13, the first, second and third
order standing waves are confirmed by power spectrum
analysis of the mold level signal. Therefore three standing
wave observers are installed in the controller. Fig. 14 shows a
block diagram of the standing wave observers in this case.
The observers are connected in series and this structure can
remove the first, second and third order standing wave
components from the original mold level signal.

Standing wave
model(2nd order)

Estimated
2 nd order
standing wave

PD controller
+

Standing wave
model(3rd order)

Estimated
3 rd order
standing wave

PD controller

Mold level signal without

standing waves

wave observer is set according to the width. The damping

factor is adjusted to 0.4 in all the observers. According to
the on/off of the proposed function, the PI controller gain is
switched over automatically, because a stronger gain
becomes available by applying the proposed method.

Fig. 14. The block diagram of the standing wave observer

4.2 Experimental results
The proposed control scheme has been applied in the
commercial continuous casting operation to compare with the
conventional control scheme. These tests are conducted under
the same steel type and the same operating conditions except
the values of PI gain.

Controller
Sliding
Nozzle

PIController

Estimated
1 st order
standing wave

PD controller

The width of the mold is changed according to the width of

the casting slab. The angular frequency n in the standing

Reference

Standing wave
model(1ST order)

Standing
Wave
Observer

Figs. 15 and 16 show an example of test results with the

conventional method where the standing wave observer is not
applied. The amplitude of the mold level is very close to the
acceptable limit. Fig. 16 shows that the first, second and third
order standing waves occurred and the sliding nozzle made
an unnecessary manipulation in response to the measured
standing waves. Figs. 17 and 18 show an example of test
results with the standing wave observer. The excessive
sliding nozzle action can be prevented by removing the
standing wave components from the mold level signal, which
allows to use a higher PI gain than the conventional method.
As a result, the amplitude of the mold level is much smaller.

Mold
Level

Mold

Level
Sensor

Fig. 12. Control scheme of the real plant

60

1st

PSD(dB)

40

order

2nd

Mold Level

+20

order
3rd order

20

10

Set0
-10

-20

0
-20

10

20

30

40

50

10

20

30

40

50

70
Open

0.5

1.5

Sliding Gate

-40

Frequency(Hz)

60
50
40

Close
30

Fig. 13. Power spectral density of mold level signal in the

applied plant

Time(sec)

Fig. 15. Test results at plant (conventional)

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5. CONCLUSIONS
(a) Mold Level

Effective standing wave compensation technique for the

mold level control has been proposed.

60

PSD(dB)

40

The proposed standing wave observer can remove standing

wave components from the original mold level signal. This
way can prevent interactions between the mold level control
and the standing wave components.

20
0
-20
-40

0.5

1.5

Simulation and experimental results confirmed that excessive

sliding nozzle actions were prevented by applying the filtered
mold level signal to the level controller. Standing wave
components rejection also allowed the use of a higher PI gain
than the conventional method. This provides the mold level
stabilization and the higher product quality.

(b) Sliding Gate

60

PSD(dB)

40
20
0
-20
-40

0.5

1.5

REFERENCES

Frequency(Hz)

Asano K., Kaji, T., Aoki H., Ibaraki M., Moriwaki S. (1996),
Robust Molten Steel Level Control For Continuous
Casting. Proc. of the35th Conf. on Decision and Control,
Kobe, Japan. , pp. 1245-1250
Dussud M., Galichet S. and Foulloy L.P. (1998). Application
of fuzzy logic control for continuous casting mold level
control. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems
Technology, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 246252.
Furtmueller C., del Re L. (2006). Control issues in
continuous casting of steel. Proceed of the 17th World
Congress IFAC, Seoul Korea, pp. 700-704.
Furtmueller C., Grucnbacher E. (2008). Suppresion of
Periodic Disturbances in Continuous Casting using an
Internal Model Predictor. IEEE Conference on Control
Application, Munich Germany, pp. 1764-1769.
Jabri K., Bele B., Mouchette A., Dumur E., Godoy E. (2008).
Suppresion of Periodic Disturbances in Continuous
Casting Process. 17th IEEE International Conference on
Control Applications, San Antonio Texas, USA, pp. 9196.
Kitada H., Kondo O., Kusachi H. and Sasame K. (1998).
Hinf control of molten steel level in continuous caster.
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vol.6 , no. 2 , pp. 200207.
Noda Y., Yano K. Horihata S. Terashima K. (2004). Sloshing
Suppression Control During Liquid Container Transfer
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Analysis. 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control,
Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas, pp. 3045-3052
Rackers K. G. and Thomas B. G. (1995). Clogging in
continuous casting nozzles. 78th Steel making
Conference Proceedings, Iron and Steel Society,
Warrendale, PA, vol. 78, pp. 723-734.
Yano K., Terashima K. (2001). Robust Liquid Container
Transfor Control for Complete Sloshing Suppression.
IEEE Trans. on Control Systems Technology, vol. 9 no. 3,
pp. 91-96

Fig. 16. Power spectral density (conventional)

20

Mold Level

10

Set0
-10

-20

10

20

30

40

50

10

20

30

40

50

Sliding Gate

70
Open
60
50
40

Close
30

Time(sec)

Fig. 17. Test results at plant (proposed method)

(a) Mold Level

60

PSD(dB)

40
20
0
-20

Power Spectrum
Magnitude (dB)
PSD(dB)

-40

0.5

1.5

(b) Sliding Gate

60
40
20
0
-20
-40

0.5

1.5

Frequency(Hz)

Fig. 18. Power spectral density (proposed method)

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