Flow pattern in ingot during mould filling and

its impact on inclusion removal

L. Ragnarsson, M. Ek, A. Eliasson and Du Sichen*
A two-dimensional non-steady state computational fluid dynamic model was employed to gain a
basic understanding of the flow in the ingot during casting. The surface velocity was found to be
affected by the inlet angle and was found to vary with the casting level. The information of surface
velocity was related to the probability of the inclusion removal. Water model experiments were
also conducted to help the understanding. The model calculation revealed the same trends as the
results of water model experiments. Both computational fluid dynamic data and the physical
modelling showed that the inlet angle of 5u currently used in the industry was a good alternative
regarding inclusion removal. The present work suggests strongly that the melting shop should try
to obtain a liquid or semiliquid film at as early stage as possible in ingot casting.
Keywords: Inclusions, Casting powder, Ingot casting, Cold model, CFD

Introduction prevent freezing and help produce a more homogeneous

Ingot casting is still commonly used for high alloying
steel grades, e.g. tool steel, while continuous casting has
become the main production route for other steel
products. The use of ingot casting aims to minimise
the segregation and suit the amount of steel production;
however, with the increasing demands on steel cleanness,
the study of inclusion formation and removal in the
casting process has drawn more and more attention of
the researchers and engineers.1–4 The possible main
sources of generation of non-metallic inclusions in ingot
casting include:
(i) exogenous inclusion from the ladle nozzles
(ii) reoxidation due to the surrounding atmosphere
(iii) erosion of the runner
(iv) reoxidation inside the mould
(v) exogenous inclusions originated from the cast-
ing powder
(vi) endogenous inclusions originated from the
solidification.
A previous study of the present research group shows
that two new types of inclusions are introduced during
ingot casting.5 While the inclusions of the first new type,
macro in size, are formed due to reoxidation, the
inclusions of second type are generated by entrainment
of casting powder. Findings of inclusions originating
from the casting powder are also reported by other
researchers.1,4,6–11
The objectives of the casting powder is to act as a
lubricant, hinder the dissolution of oxygen into the steel
at the top surface and act as a heat isolator in order to
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of
Technology, Brinellvägen 23, Stockholm SE–100 44, Sweden
*Corresponding author, email du@mse.kth.se
solidified structure. Hence, the use of casting powder is
inevitable in ingot casting.3,4,10–13
The casting powder is often placed inside the mould
either on the bottom beside the inlet or hanging from
fibre ropes above the bottom. When the steel is
introduced into the mould, the steel and the casting
powder become mixed. The density of casting powder is
less than the steel, and thereby it is supposed to float to
the top and form a layer. However, the strong
turbulence of the liquid metal when it makes entrance
into the mould can result in the entrainment of casting
powder into the steel.
The ability of separating non-metallic inclusions
in the mould by liquid slag formation of the cast-
ing powder has also been studied by a number of
researchers.14 Several studies on mathematical or/and
physical modelling have contributed to understand-
ing the flow pattern in the ingot.3,4,15,16 It has been
found that the inlet design, mould shape and the
filling speed are the main parameters affecting the
flow pattern. On the other hand, no attempt has been
made to relate the flow pattern to the separation of
inclusions introduced by casting powder. Neither the
impact of the time required for the formation
of liquid slag layer by melting of casting powder
on the inclusion removal has been systematically
investigated.
The present work aimed to study the effects of various
operation parameters on the flow pattern in the ingot
and, in turn, their impact on the removal of inclusions
introduced by the entrainment of casting powder. While
the non-steady flow state in the mould during casting
was to be calculated by computational fluid dynamic
(CFD) modelling, simple experimental approach was
used to simulate the removal of inclusions by the top
slag layer.

ß 2010 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 29 December 2009; accepted 19 January 2010
DOI 10.1179/030192310X12683045806062 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO 5 347
Ragnarsson et al. Flow pattern in ingot and its impact
1 Schematic drawing of experimental model
Cold model experiments
Experimental set-up and produce
In order to study inclusion removal, a three-dimensional
water model was made to simulate a 5?8 t ingot. The
geometrical ratio between the model and real mould was
1 : 3. The dimensions of the model are presented in
Fig. 1. It was made in a way that inlets of different inlet
angles could be easily swapped.
The inlet of the model was connected to a water
reservoir by a hose of ø 6 mm. The water level in the
water reservoir was kept constant by continuous water
supply from a tap. The height difference between the
water reservoir and the bottom of the model was
800 mm. This arrangement gave a casting speed of 20–
30 cm3 s21. This casting speed was chosen by choosing a
Reynolds number similar to that of the 5?8 t ingot.
Water was used to simulate the liquid steel, while
charcoal particles in the size range of 100–150 mm were
used to simulate the inclusions generated by the entrain-
ment of casting powder. The charcoal was premixed in a
small amount of water to wet the surface. Silicon oil, with
dynamic viscosity of 4?861022 kg m21 s21 and density
of 960 kg m23, supplied by BDH Silicone Products
(Conestoga, PA, USA), was used to simulate slag formed
from melted casting powder.
The mould was filled with water to a height of 40 mm.
Thereafter, the charcoal–water mixture containing 1 g
of charcoal powder was added and stirred in the water to
get a homogeneous distribution. The filling of the ingot
started immediately afterwards. Silicon oil was added
carefully at a predetermined level of casting. The
thickness of the oil layer was 10 mm. As reported by
Kumar et al.,17 the interfacial tension between silicon oil
and charcoal is nearly zero, while the interfacial tension
between water and charcoal is relatively high. The
difference in interfacial tension would facilitate the
removal of charcoal particles from water phase to oil.
This situation would be similar to the inclusion–metal–
slag system. Samples (inclusions mixed with water) were
regularly taken at different positions using a 10 mL
pipette. The inclusions were filtered out from the water
by a paper filter and carefully counted.
Results
In total, seven experiments were conducted. The main
physical properties of the materials used are listed in
348 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO
Table 1. The experimental conditions are given in
Table 2. The parameters considered in the experiments
were the inlet angle and the water level in the mould at
which silicon oil was added. Samples were taken using
pipette at different heights of casted water levels, namely
70, 130, 190, 250, 310 and 370 mm. The charcoal
particles filtered out on the filter were counted under
magnifying glass. The concentration of the sample taken
at 70 mm was used as the initial concentration of the
particles.
In view of the dilution of the concentration of
charcoal particles due to the constant supply of pure
water, the numbers of charcoal particle in the samples
were normalised using equation (1)
CV
N~ (1)
C0 V0
where N is the normalised number of inclusions, Co and
C are the initial concentration of charcoal particles
(number cm23) and the concentration of charcoal
particles (number cm23) in a sample respectively and
Vo and V are the volume of water at the water level of
70 mm and the level when the sample is taken
respectively.
Figure 2 and presents the normalised number of
inclusions at the different sampling positions in the
model. Figure 2a shows the results of the experiments,
where the top phase is added when the water level in the
mould reaches 0?1 m. In the case of the experiments
shown in Fig. 2b, the top phase addition is made when
the water level was 0?2 m. In both figures, the different
symbols represent different angles of inlet. As shown in
Fig. 2, the inlet angle has no substantial effect on
inclusion removal, although Fig. 2b seems to suggest
that the small inlet angle leads to low number of
inclusions at the end of the experiment when the top
liquid is added at a water level of 0?2 m. More
discussion will be given later in the section on
‘Discussion’.
Table 1 Physical properties of materials
Properties water
Density, kg m23 1000
Dynamic viscosity, kg m21 s21 0.001
Properties charcoal
Density, kg m23 ,500
Size interval, mm 100–150
5

a top phase addition at 0?1 m; b top phase addition at 0?2 m
2 Normalised concentration of inclusions found in ingot during casting at different casting levels
Computational fluid dynamic calculation
To gain an insight into the removal of inclusions in the
ingot, a basic understanding of the flow pattern of the
liquid steel in the mould is essential. For this under-
standing, CFD simulation was used.
Model and calculation
A two-dimensional non-steady state model was
employed in this simulation. The domain under con-
sideration, the central plane of the mould through the
runner axis, is shown in Fig. 3. Even the part of the
runner shown in the figure is included in the calculation.
The following assumptions are made in the model:
(i) the fluid is Newtonian and incompressible
(ii) the effect of the top liquid on the flow of liquid
metal (or water) is neglected, and only the flow
of liquid metal (water) is considered
(iii) the liquid has uniform temperature and con-
centration; hence, no natural convection is
considered
(iv) the flow is in a state of turbulence.
Since only the flow in the mould is focused on, mass and
heat transfer are not included in the model. The fluid
flow is calculated by the Navier–Stokes equations. To
describe the turbulent nature of the flow, the K2e model
was incorporated.18 The filling of the ingot with a free
surface was calculated with a moving mesh using the
arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian technique coupled with
Navier–stokes equations.19 The commercial software
COMSOL MultiPhysics 3?5 was used for the calcula-
tions.19
The boundary conditions include two parts, one for
the fluid dynamics and the other for the moving mesh.
Table 2 Surface velocity and DZ evaluated for inclusions of 100 mm in water model
Angle, u
5 25
Height (norm) vsurf, m s21 DZ100 mm, mm vsurf, m s21
0.19 0.011 4.88 0.010
0.38 0.008 4.68 0.007
0.56 0.003 6.94 0.002
Ragnarsson et al. Flow pattern in ingot and its impact
The boundary conditions of the Navier–Stokes and K2e
equations were set as follows:
(i) the logarithmic wall function is applied to all the
walls in the ingot and inlet
(ii) the normal inlet velocity is constant
(iii) at the free surface, the normal stress is assumed
to be zero.
The filling of the ingot was modelled by the expansion of
a moving mesh. The mesh displacement is strictly
defined by the ALE boundary conditions to maintain
the correct geometry. To properly define the walls of the
ingot, free displacement in the y direction is allowed
along the walls, while the x displacement is defined by
the y displacement to obtain the slope of the walls. The
velocity of free surface is set to the normal velocity of the
fluid at the surface. No displacement of any other
boundary is allowed.
Results of model calculation
The flow patterns and velocity distributions at different
casting levels can be calculated for both water model
and industrial ingot. As an example, Fig. 4 presents the
velocity distributions in the water model at three
different casting levels for three inlet angles. It is
evidently seen that the inlet angle has a substantial
effect on the flow pattern. Detailed discussion will be
given in the section on ‘Discussion’.
Figure 5 presents the flow patterns at different cast-
ing stages for a 5?8 t industrial ingot with an inlet angle
of 5u.
It is seen in Figs. 4 and 5 that the incoming flow in the
horizontal right direction is forced by the inlet to change
direction when it enters the mould. Because of the inlet
angle, the plume is offset from the centre of the mould.
45
DZ100 mm, mm vsurf, m s21 DZ100 mm, mm
6.26 0.008 6.47
5.06 0.004 4.56
6.20 0.004 7.38
Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO 5 349
Ragnarsson et al. Flow pattern in ingot and its impact
3 Calculating domain of two-dimensional
state model
For the 5u inlet, the flow is almost straight upwards,
while for the 45u inlet, the upward flow is directed
somewhat to the right of the centreline.
At lower liquid levels, the plume transports the liquid
to the top surface where it is distributed towards all the
sides of the mould by a horizontally flow. During this
time, the inclusions have the possibility to meet the top
phase and become absorbed. At the side walls of the
mould, the liquid is redirected downwards to maintain
the mass balance and momentum balance. In a two-
dimensional plan (see Fig. 4a and b as well as Fig. 5a
and b), two loops are seen, one on each side of the
centreline.
As the surface level rises (see Figs. 4 and 5), the
upward vertical flow starts leaning against the right wall
of the mould. Finally, one of the two loops vanishes.
Thereafter, only a bigger flow loop can be seen in the
two-dimensional plan. It is worthwhile to mention that
the vanishing of one of the loops and the formation of a
bigger loop are confirmed by the visual observation in
the water model experiments. A detailed discussion
regarding the impact of the flow pattern on the
inclusions removal will be given later.
Discussion
The generation of inclusions by mould powder has been
reported in a previous work.5 The sizes of this type of
inclusions are in the range of 10–30 mm and are solid at
casting temperature. This solid nature along with their
composition range suggests that the casting powder is
a inlet angle 5u; b inlet angle 25u; c inlet angle 45u
4 Velocity and direction of flow in water mould at different casting levels
350 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO
entrained into the liquid metal before the liquid layer of
slag is formed. It is reasonable to expect that this
entrainment takes place at the start of casting. In order
to minimise the number of inclusions due to the casting
powder, the entrainment should be limited to a
minimum level, and at the same time, the flow should
be optimised to enhance inclusion removal.
As seen in Figs. 4 and 5, the flow pattern varies
greatly with the level of the liquid in the mould. Figure 4
also shows that the flow pattern can be modified by the
non-steady
modification of inlet angle. It would be helpful to
examine whether it is possible to increase the probability
of the inclusion removal by adjusting the flow patterns.
It is well known that the meeting between the
inclusion and the top slag is a necessary condition, but
not a sufficient condition for inclusion removal.17 The
physical properties of both liquid metal and slag do not
vary substantially during casting; hence, a greater
probability of an inclusion meeting the top slag would
result in a greater probability of its removal.
Because of the small sizes of the inclusions, they
usually have very low terminal velocities. It is reasonable
to believe that most of the inclusions that have the
opportunity in meeting the top slag layer are brought up
by the main stream of the steel. Nevertheless, a small
particle feels two forces: a buoyancy force that will push
the particle upwards and a drag force that will drag the
particle moving along the streamline of the liquid metal.
As seen in Figs. 4 and 5, the liquid velocities are
generally along the horizontal direction at the free
surface of the metal bath. Assuming that all the particles
move upwards (z direction) with their terminal velocities
and move horizontally with the same velocity of the
metal, it is possible to estimate the DZ within which the
particle would have the opportunity in meeting the top
slag. The terminal velocity of a particle having a radius
R can be expressed as


2gR2 rparticle {rsteel
Vterminal ~ (m s{1 ) (2)
9meff
where meff is the effective viscosity of the bulk liquid,
rparticle and rsteel are the densities of the particle and the
liquid respectively and g is the gravity constant. The
5

a 13%; b 31%; c 63%; d 94%
5 Velocity and direction of the flow in ingot at different casting levels
distance for a particle to travel in the z direction can be
expressed by
DZ~Vterminal Dt (m) (3)
where Dt is the length of the time period. The longest
time for the particle to travel along the surface of liquid
metal would be
DX
Dt~ (s) (4)
Vmetal
where Vmetal is horizontal velocity of the metal at the
slag/metal interface, while DX is the travelling distance
along the surface. As seen in Figs. 4 and 5, DX could be
either half of the mould width or the whole. A
combination of equations (2)–(4) leads to

is added at 100 mm casting level (19% of the total casting
Vterminal DX 2gR2 rparticle {rsteel DX
DZ~ ~ , m (5)
Vmetal 9meff Vmetal
Smaller Vmetal and bigger DX would lead to higher
probability of inclusion removal. It is also expected that
the probability of inclusion removal P is proportional to
the volume concentration of the inclusions. P can be
expressed as

most probably at the start of the process. Following this
2gR2 rparticle {rsteel DX
P!CDZ~C (6)
9meff Vmetal
The horizontal velocities near the free surface can be
obtained by the CFD calculation for different flow
conditions in the water model. It should be pointed out
that the velocity at the free surface is not really constant,
and an average value is evaluated for each case. The
calculated average horizontal velocities near the free
surface and values of DZ (calculated for 100 mm) are
presented in Table 2 for different casting levels and
different inlet angles. In the calculation, the effective
viscosities of the liquid were employed.
The table shows that the DZ values do not differ
substantially, although the surface velocity varies consider-
ably with the inlet angle. The reason for similar DZ values
at different surface velocities is because of the difference in
effective viscosity. It appears that the lower surface velocity
is associated with higher turbulent viscosity.
The results in Fig. 2a are in line with the above
discussion. As seen in Fig. 2b, the number of inclusions
in the case of the 45u inlet generally decreases slower than
the other two cases. However, this trend is not so
profound. It must be pointed out that the use of
equation (6) is associated with a number of uncertainties
Ragnarsson et al. Flow pattern in ingot and its impact
such as the calculated effective viscosities and the surface
velocities. Even the experiments are subjected to uncer-
tainties, especially at the late stages of the experiment when
the inclusion number is small. Nevertheless, the effect of
inlet angle on inclusion removal is not very profound.
As shown in Table 2, the inclusions having the oppor-
tunity in meeting the slag film are found in a very thin layer
DZ. This would explain why casting powder in the range of
10–30 mm are easily found in the ingot after solidification.
A comparison of Fig. 2a and b indicates that the
earlier addition of the top liquid enhances inclusion
removal considerably. This is because most of the
inclusions are removed in the early stages due to the
early addition of the top liquid phase. In fact, 80–90%
inclusions have been removed when the top liquid
height). On the other hand, many inclusions still remain
in the mould (see inlet angles 30 and 45u) when the oil
addition is made at 200 mm casting level (38% of the total
casting height). This could be explained by two factors.
Equation (6) shows that the probability of inclusion
removal is proportional to the volume concentration of
inclusions. It has been pointed out earlier that the casting
particles are entrained at the earlier stages of casting,
reasoning, the charcoal powder is added before the main
experimental procedure. The concentration of the solid
particles in the liquid is much higher when the casting
level is 100 mm (19%) in comparison with a casting level
200 mm (38%). The higher concentration would result in
higher removal probability. The second reason is the
difference in the ratio of DZ/casting height between the
two cases. The ratio DZ/casting height expresses the
fraction of the inclusions having the possibility to meet
the top liquid. Introducing the top liquid at low casting
level would lead to high DZ/casting height and thereby
high removal efficiency.
The present results strongly suggests that the early
formation of the liquid slag film (or mostly liquid) would
help in the removal of entrained casting powder. It
would be useful to examine the real industrial practice in
the same manner. Table 3 lists the surface velocities and
DZ (for inclusions of 100 and 30 mm in size) of different
inlet angles for a 5?8 t mould.
The effective viscosities in the mould are usually two
orders of magnitude higher than the dynamic viscosity of
liquid steel. As revealed by equation (2), the terminal
velocity is considerably decreased by the high turbulent
viscosity. Consequently, DZ becomes very small, all being
Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO 5 351
Ragnarsson et al. Flow pattern in ingot and its impact
Table 3 Surface velocity and DZ evaluated for inclusions of 100 and 30 mm in ingot
Angle, u
5 25
Height vsurf, DZ30 mm, DZ100 mm, vsurf, DZ30 mm,
(norm) m s21 mm mm m s21 mm
0.31 0.046 0.01 0.14 0.040 0.01
0.63 0.010 0.04 0.42 0.017 0.02
0.94 0.005 0.08 0.91 0.016 0.03
,1 mm, as shown in Table 3. These values strongly
suggest that the removal of inclusions during casting is
very slow. A comparison of Tables 2 and 3 would
indicate that the water model information should be used
with precaution when transplanted to a real metal case.
It is interesting to see in Table 3 that the inlet of 5u in
the industrial mould has the best performance. The DZ
values are bigger than the other two inlet angles. This
result seems to be in line with the water model results
shown in Fig. 2b. Note that the present discussion should
only be considered qualitative, since the DZ values are so
small. However, it is very true that the inclusion removal
is very difficult during mould filling. Table 3 also shows
that the DZ for inclusions 30 mm in size is only about one-
tenth of DZ for inclusions of 100 mm. This can well
explain the fact that only the casting powder in the range
of 10–30 mm is found in the ingot.5
Eriksson et al. have carried out CFD calculation for
ingot filling.15 Based on the fact that the surface
deformation is almost flat at a filling height and the
average surface velocity, the authors suggest 25u as the
best inlet angle. Note that no consideration of inclusion
removal has been made in their study. The forgoing
discussion suggests that the inlet angle used by the
industry is, in fact, a good choice.
Both the CFD calculation and cold model experiments
of the present work should be considered semiquantita-
tive and semiqualitative. Nevertheless, the results are still
useful to make a relative comparison. One definite
conclusion can be drawn from this study: the melting
shop should try to obtain a liquid or semiliquid film at as
early stage as possible. For example, one could try to put
a thin premelted plate of the casting powder and place the
rest of the powder on it. This practice would, first, reduce
the mechanical entrainment of the casting powder and,
second, enhance the removal of the entrained particles.
Hammerton and Mettler has also suggested a similar
practice in an earlier study.20
Conclusions
To understand the flow pattern during filling and its
impact on the removal of inclusion originating from
casting powder, experiments in a 1 : 3 scaled cold model
of a real 5?8 t ingot were carried out. Charcoal particles
were used to simulate casting powder. Different inlet
angles and the addition of the top phase at different
casting levels were studied. During casting, samples were
taken at different heights, and the inclusions were
carefully counted. In order to estimate the velocity at
the free surface and the flow pattern inside the mould,
CFD simulations were performed.
Experimental results together with CFD data showed
that the existing inlet angle of 5u used in the industry was
352 Ironmaking and Steelmaking 2010 VOL 37 NO 5
45
DZ100 mm, vsurf, DZ30 mm, DZ100 mm,
mm m s21 mm mm
0.16 0.022 0.01 0.12
0.22 0.023 0.02 0.22
0.31 0.017 0.02 0.22
the best option for inclusion removal. Two major factors
that affected removal were the distance in which the
inclusion had the possibility to meet the slag and the
ratio of this distance to casting level. The latter factor
was the most dominant.
The experimental results and the derived relationship
showed a semiquantitative and semiqualitative consis-
tency. The results strongly suggested that it is desirable
to find a way to form an absorbing liquid film as early as
possible in order to remove inclusion generated from
casting powder at an early stage of casting.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Mr Alf Sandberg at
Uddeholm Tooling and Mr Wu Liusgun, at KTH for
stimulating discussion and kind help. Financial supports
for the present work provided by Uddeholm Tooling
AB, Sweden are gratefully acknowledged.
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