REQUIREMENT OF TUNDISH IN CCM:

Quality Improvement through Inclusion assimilation, tundish

is used as a refining vessel

Higher productivity rates driven by increased greater
machine availability and improved product yield

Slag-free transfer

Optimized metal delivery systems to the mold

Thermal control, Chemical homogenization

BENEFITS OF MORE TUNDISH DEPTH
Increases Metal Residence Time
Reduces the potential for Vortexing of tundish slags,
especially during transient conditions such as ladle exchanges.


CRITERION FOR TUNDISH AS A REFINING
VESSEL
Elimination of sources of molten steel contamination,
e.g., refractory erosion, reoxidation, ladle slag carryover
and tundish slag emulsification

Promotion of inclusion flotation and separation from the
melt by means of flow modifying devices (FMDs), filters and
engineered slags;

Introduction of technologies such as thermal control, slag-
free transfer and optimized metal delivery systems to the
mold.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR SELECTING OVERALL
TUNDISH DESIGN
Consideration of the product(s) to be cast.
Matching the number of strands to the shop pacing.
Cleanliness improvements.
Lining thickness and configuration.
Necessity for costly tundish furniture.
Tundish fly capability to support extended continuous
casting.
Yield losses.
TYPES OF TUNDISH
B-TYPE TUNDISH: The trough-shaped tundish, alternately referred to as a boat- or bathtub-
shape, Variations of the rectangular-base trough include coffin-shaped and flared-trough
designs. The trough shape is commonly encountered in single- and two-strand slab casters,
and is also found on many bloom and billet casters.
This type of Tundish offers a larger ladle stream pour box and a
more circuitous path to the strand than a conventional trough
tundish.
V-shaped tundish
The C-tundish is a combination of the boat- and V-
tundishes.
C-shaped tundish
1. Encountered principally on bloom/billet machines,

2. Essentially a modified trough with a separate and usually central pour box
region. This design, while minimizing turbulence impacts to the inner strands
and ensuring a full metal head for delivery to all strands.










3. This design prone to short circuit issue of liquid steel, hence this is a
disadvantage of this design.
T-shaped tundish
POUR BOX REGION
1. Design essentially consists of linked troughs, allowing the bridging of a ladle
exchange period without the drop in tundish weight experienced in conventional
tundishes.

2. Separate hydraulics allow two ladles to be poured into the tundish simultaneously,
and the teeming rates of the old and new heat are matched to equal the output rate
of the caster strand(s), such that tundish level will remain constant.

3. The quality of the ladle exchange portion is comparable to that cast under steady-
state conditions in the middle of a ladle.

4. The elimination of thermal events associated with heat losses through the tundish
walls, as can be induced by large tundish level fluctuations.
H-shaped tundish
1. Wolf and Chakraborty that longer tundishes with lower operating heights yield
more efficient inclusions removal.

2. Flotation of larger inclusions is generally adequate for all tundishes, although small
inclusions (15 m) do not tend to be floated effectively in any tundish configuration.

3. Shallower designs allow better separation, as the relative distance to be covered
by an inclusion during Stokes Law flotation from the melt to the receptive
slag interface is smaller on average.

4. A shallower tundish also will provide better chemical transition compared to
tundishes of equal volume but greater operating depth, owing to the mixing behavior
of the streams. Not understood????
ADVANTAGES OF SHALLOWER TUNDISH:
DISADVANTAGES OF SHALLOWER TUNDISH:
1. Reduced ability to dissipate turbulent ladle stream energy.

2. Increased chances of top slag Vortexing from the tundish into the mold.

Tundish metallurgy- a solution or limitation to clean steel, J. van der Stel,M.C.M.Cornellison,
B.Deo and R.Boom, Tundish Metallurgy, Vol II, AIME, 1990
TUNDISH SOLUTION SHOULD PROVIDE FOLLOWINGS:
1. Sufficient volume to bridge ladle exchanges;
2. An appropriate operating depth;
3. Uniform flow distribution to all strands;
4. Optimal residence time for inclusion flotation;
5. A quiescent surface;
6. Thermal and chemical insulation, including appropriate refractories; and
7. Low drainage weight capability to optimize yield.
Physio-Chemical Phenomena
13
IIT Bombay 7/5/2014
Ladle changeover and grade intermixing
Temperature drop and heat loss
Re-oxidation, inclusion generation
Slag emulsification
Slag vortexing
Inclusion removal
Strand freezing

Following solution may be provided to a Tundish for achieving required inclusion
floatation
PHYSICAL SHROUDING SYSTEMS
1. Fused silica ladle shrouds: Prone to chemical and physical
attack by the teeming stream

2. Alumina-Graphite (ALG) Refractories Shrouds: offers good
thermal shock resistance and resistance to metal and slag
attack,

TO PREVENT ASPIRATION THROUGH THE SHROUD WALLS:

1. sufficient refractory thickness and density, as well as low
permeability, are required

2. Glazes: By applying of glazes on the interior and exterior
surfaces of shroud walls to control oxidation
SHROUD NITROGEN ASPIRATION CURE
Argon gas is injected in the
shroud bayonet seal which
provides a positive pressure and
minimizes air aspirations.

Submerged opening practices in
the pour box by suppressing the
turbulence using the required
shapes of pour box.

DISADVANTAGES OF UNSUBMERGED LADLE OPENING
1. Forces vigorous slag/metal interactions, leading to increased inclusion
formation
2. Provides exposure of the steel in the falling stream as well as in the
tundish pour box to the atmosphere.
NOTE:
A submerged opening practice
does require a shroud with a larger
diameter at the bottom than at
the top to prevent so-called
blowbacks during ladle open,
induced by resistance from
constrictions.
Improved inclusion floatation:
1. Improved inclusion floatation is possible if turbulence
energy is harnessed.

2. FMDs known as dams, weirs and baffles are used, which
serve to assist in directing inclusions upward to a captive
tundish slag layer.

3. Argon bubbling can be used to enhance the natural
particle rise velocity by combining the inclusions with
insoluble gas bubbles. The rise rate is accelerated due to
the combined gas/inclusions particles much greater
buoyancy.




Bubbling devices in the tundish does require attention to gas pressure and
volume to prevent boiling and open eyes, which are manifestations of both
slag/metal mixing and reactions with the atmosphere
NOTE:
The bubbling can be effected either through porous plugs in the bottom of the
tundish, or by providing gas purging through the top of a hockey-stick dam.
TUNDISH LINING:
1. It should be Inert and not be contributed to exogenous
inclusions in the steel.

2. Applications are being developed where the tundish lining is
designed to actually react with solid inclusions in the melt to
form liquid compounds that do not clog.

3. The control of reducible components in the lining, such as
silica and alkali oxides is also very important. If uncontrolled,
these can be leached out during the casting process and
contribute to formation of alumina inclusions, as the
dissolved aluminum in the steel will react with the more
reducible oxide species at the tundish wall.
TUNDISH TOP SURFACE COVER:

Top surface of the tundish is protected from the atmosphere by
the addition of a tundish flux layer.

A few casters around the world are equipped with fully sealed
lids that can sustain an inert gas atmosphere above the melt and
atmospheric control is maintained by means of oxygen sensors.

FUNCTION OF SLAG COVER:

1. Inclusion absorption
2. Thermal insulation
3. Chemical insulation
4. buffering of ladle slag
STOPPER RODS:
A stopper rod is a tubular device that controls
flow to the mold by adjusting the opening
between the rod tip and the tundish well nozzle.

Stoppers are mostly constructed of alumina
graphite, occasionally with tips incorporating the
use of magnesia, SiAlONs (pronounced sy-a-
lons, an advanced class of ceramics with
excellent wear characteristics) and/or porous
elements.
A NEGATIVE PRESSURE AT THE FLOW CONTROL POINT i.e. UNDER THE STOPPER ROD TIP
Problem: A pressure difference of around 2035 psi between the tip of the stopper and
the metal above the flow control point.

Solution: Inert gas purging is required to negate air aspiration through the stopper rod.
Advantage of stopper rods is that it Reduce the propensity for vortex formation but it
doesnt completely remove the chance of vortexing.


Tundish well nozzles alignment has also become a very important and critical issue
which has to be taken care because just the misalignment of 2 degree from the vertical
can make tundish nozzle clogging worse or exacerbate and if the misalignment reaches
10 degrees from vertical it starts blocking or plugging faster significantly.


SOME TUNDISH DESIGNS
HAVE TO ACCOMMODATE
FOLLOWING:

Product being cast like in a
combi-caster which are
designed to produce different
sections. These produce a
slab and sometime these
produce 3 bloom strands.

When Slab is produced from
the combi-caster V-shaped
dam is replaced by two larger
angle dams and middle hole is
capped. This provision should
be given in a tundish.
Water Modeling : An Effective First Approach
Our Water models flow system should be similar to the real flow system for Steel.

CRITERIA OF SIMILARITY:

GEOMETRIC SIMILARITY:
Geometric similarity requires that the ratios of all lengths be maintained to a constant
value. full-scale model detractors include requirements for large water supplies, large
building spaces, and significant pumping capacity. Thus, construction and operation of
such models are rather capital- and cost-intensive. reduced-scale models can be
constructed at a comparatively lower capital cost without requirements for extensive
bracing of the transparent Plexiglas walls.

REDUCED SCALE MODELS INCUR:
Lower Operating cost based mainly on the lower quantities of consumables, specifically
the water required.
KINEMATIC SIMILARITY & DYNAMIC SIMILARITY:
Property Water (293K) Steel (1873K)
Viscosity (cP) 1 6.4
Density (g/cm3) 1 7.08
Kinematic Viscosity (cs) 1 0.904
Surface Tension (mN/m) 7.3 1900
ADVANTAGES OF CHOOSING WATER:

1. Since the kinematic viscosities of the two fluids are nearly identical, water can
effectively serve as a medium to model liquid steel flow accurately.

2. It provides safe handling and transparency of medium, thus enabling simple and
effective flow visualization by means of a variety of fluid volume tracers
Kinematic and dynamic similarity signify that fluid streamlines and dynamic forces
in the model system and the actual system are equivalent in magnitude, geometry
and direction.

All the system dynamics are defined by well known dimensionless expressions as
follows:

Froude Number: relates inertial forces to gravity and represents the bulk flow
within the tundish.

Reynolds Number: relates inertial forces to viscosity and the boundary flow
conditions that account for only a small fraction of the total flow in a tundish.

Weber Number: relates inertial forces to surface tension effect
GOVERNING ACTIONS FOR THE FLUID FLOW:

A. The high-momentum incident ladle stream jet
B. Gravity-driven flow at the tundish-to-mold exit orifices
THERMAL SIMILARITY:

Thermal similarity is ignored generally due to the bulk flow of steel where forced
convection dominates such as tundishes, thermal phenomena may be ignored.
However, more recent studies have shown that thermal phenomena can result in
significant shifts in fluid flow behavior, even so-called INVERSION.
In tundishes, for example, this phenomenon is particularly important during ladle
switches, as steel from a new heat will mix in the tundish with the prior heat
under potentially non-isothermal conditions.
Depending on whether the thermal difference between the heats is positive or
negative, the flow kinetics are modified, and short-circuit times to reach different
strands are altered. Thus, recent water modeling studies have incorporated the
ability to mix cold and warm streams to provide simulation of transient
phenomena.
Depending upon the steady-state and nonsteady-state phenomena, the modeler needs to
select the methodology by which fluid flow phenomena will be quantified.

Visualization and quantification of fluid flow behvior is required for complete analysis,
hence techniques must satisfy both for the system being modeled.
The most common techniques employed for this are as follows:


Dye injection with accompanying colorimetry,
Acid injection with pH-tracking,
Saline solution injection with conductivity measurements, and
Conventional or high-speed videography combined with tracer bead image resolution.
Hydrogen bubble technique
Hot wire anemometry
Laser Doppler velocimetry
Above Techniques are used on the basis of which region of casting system is chosen for
investigation whether that is tundish bulk fluid or the well nozzles.

Also reason of choosing one of the above techniques is the type of information we need
if fluid flow in tundishes is characterized, residence time distribution (RTD) curves, are
drawn whereas fluid flow in mold is described by measurements of fluid velocities, surface
wave height and stream turbulence.
TRACERS IN WATER MODELING:

DENSITY NEUTRAL TRACERS: EX. Water-soluble dyes

NON NEUTRAL DENSITY TRACERS: EX. saline solutions

Provide a slightly altered RTD profile
Relatively accurate
Repeatable RTD results
Provide valid modeling of the actual events occurring in these steelmaking reactors
Yield a profile of the concentration as determined at the outlet of the model
RTD curves are drawn to obtain important information
CONCEPT OF RESIDANCE TIME DISTRIBUTION(RTD):

The RTD is frequently plotted as dimensionless concentration versus dimensionless time.
The standard time axis is expressed using the mathematical function of mean residence
time (MRT).

MRT = Working Volume of steel in the tundish/ flow rate of steel out of tundish

MRT = 40 tonnes /8 tonnes/min= 5 min

A period of one MRT is also defined as , RTD or C curves are often plotted to 2.5 or 3
In this case, 3 would equate to 15 minutes for the given conditions of tundish volume
and throughput. As the flow rate changes, so does .

Characteristic information obtained through an RTD CURVE:
PLUG VOLUME
DISPERSED PLUG VOLUME
MIXED VOLUME
DEAD VOLUME
These characteristics are used to evaluate the tundish flow conditions at steady-state
casting conditions.
DESCRIPTION OF DEAD VOLUME

1. The ratio of mixed to dead volume indicates the mixing capability of a tundish.

2. Lowest temperature zones (maximum cooling) indicate the Dead Volume regions
during the Steel flow.

3. The value of the dead volume is found to be more sensitive than the other two
volumes to find mixing capability and hence important to reduce this stagnant portion
as far as possible.


CALCULATION OF RTD OF MELT FLOWING IN THE TUNDISH:

It is done by solving a time-dependent mass transport equation in the tundish. The plug,
mixed and dead flow fractional components of a particular tundish configuration can be
gauged visually from an RTD curve.

FOR STEADY STATE CONDITION:

The calculation assumes that a tracer is injected at the inlet at a given time and it
flows/disperses with the melt with the specified velocity field and turbulence conditions
obtained from the steady-state calculations. The calculated concentration at the tundish
outlet(s) is recorded as a function of time.

BOUNDARY CONDITION FOR UNSTEADY STATE FLOW:

The boundary conditions required for the solution of the unsteady-state mass transport
equation have to express the physical constraints that all the bounding surfaces are
impervious to the tracer. Mathematically, this corresponds to zero flux of the tracer at all
bounding surfaces.





PLUG FLOW:
The plug flow fraction is defined by the advent of the first injected tracer volume at the
tundish outlet nozzle. Also known as the minimum residence time, this characterizes
the portion of the fluid that moves through the tundish in a plug manner.
()
MIXED FLOW
The mixed fractionalso
called dispersedvolume
is indicated by the tail of
the C-curve, viz. from the
apex to the time defined as
2. Mixed flow is an
important consideration
from the perspectives of
temperature and chemistry
transition, as it shows the
tendency of two
concentrations to mix prior
to reaching the outlet
stream.
Dead flow
It serves no useful purpose in the tundish and needs to be minimized, as it leads to
detrimental phenomena such as skull formation. Dead flow in RTD curves is generally
defined as the portion of the injected tracer persisting beyond 2.
Some important Points..
Exact mathematical values for each of these parameters are obtained by integration of the
area under the C-curve;

commercially available programs exist that automatically calculate the desired mathematical
fractions of plug, dispersed and dead flow

The above treatment is to be done for assessing whether a particular tundish measure is
effective in terms of addressing the problem issue. The RTD technique offers excellent
reproducibility to determine whether a trough, V-shape, H-shaped or delta-shaped tundish
will yield the optimal solution for a given caster.

Plug flow should be maximized, for proper inclusion floatation.

The occurrence of dead volumes represents a deviation from the ideal plug flow situation,
decreasing the bulk residence time as well as creating inefficient utilization of the total
working volume of the tundish.

Increasing the working volume of the tundish and hence the residence time of flow for a
given metal throughput has long been considered an effective means of improving inclusion
removal efficiency, which may serve to explain the trend toward designing tundishes with
ever increasing capacities.

CONDITION TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM INCLUSION SEPARATION RATIO:

1. a minimum spread of residence time

2. large ratio of plug to dead volume

3. relatively large ratio of plug to mixed volume

4. surface directed flow, and contained region of mixing.

REF: Y. Sahai, R. Ahuja, Fluid flow and mixing of melt in steelmaking tundishes, Ironmaking
Steelmaking 13 (5) (1986) 241252.


BASIC SOURCE OF INCLUSIONS IN TUNDISH:

1. In the carry over slag from the ladle (micro droplets form)

2. Tundish slag

3. Eroded particles of refractory wall

4. Various chemical/steel deoxidation reactions
EFFECTS ON INCLUSION REMOVAL

Height and position of dams affect the removal of inclusion.[1]

The size of inclusions is the critical factor in determining the effectiveness of a given
tundish design to separate and float out inclusions.

Inclusions with a large terminal velocity or larger particle diameter will readily float-up to
the slag-metal interface provided appropriate flow modifiers are incorporated into the
tundish geometry. [2,3]
[1] P.K. Jha, P.S. Rao, A. Dewan, Effect of height and position of dams on inclusion removal
in a six strand tundish, ISIJ Int. 48 (2008) 154160.
[2] S. Joo, R.I.L. Guthrie, Heat flow and inclusion behaviour in a tundish for slab casting,
Can. Metall. Q. 30 (1991) 261269.
[3] A. Ruckert, M. Warzecha, R. Koitzsch, M. Pawlik, H. Pfeifer, Particle distribution and
separation in continuous casting tundish, Steel Res. Int. 80 (2009) 568574
SIMULATION OF TUNDISH SLAG
1. Oils like Silicone and mineral oils are used to observe surface turbulence and
tundish slag emulsification.

2. It is desirable to minimize surface turbulence, which can cause disruptions to the
complete slag coverage of the tundish surface, often termed open eyes.

3. Slag emulsification be minimized during a ladle change during sequence casting,
this is the demand of clean steel practices.

4. The oil technique is very useful to model the slag/metal interfaces, but, from an
environmental standpoint, does require the modeler to exercise caution so that no
pollution from entrainment of the oil into the model discharge stream(s) occurs




SIMULATION OF INCLUSION
To simulate inclusions, Hollow glass beads, also termed Glass microspheres, can be
utilized effectively. Polypropylene and Styrofoam beads may also be used for the
simulation of inclusions.

ADVANTAGE OF THE MICROSPHERES:

A solution can be applied on the microspheres so that they become nonwetting. Glass
windshield treatment solution is used to render nonwetting charcterstics to the glass
microspheres.

Microsphere is the representative of Alumina behavior in the tundish.

Beads with known quantity, density and size distribution are injected into the model
inlet to simulate inclusion behavior. This can be done both for steady-state and ladle
transition behavior studies.

The bead volume and size distribution are quantified at the outlet, accomplished
either by collecting the beads at the outlet or with an on-line device mounted at the
outlet.

A water modeling rule of thumb that should be enforced by the modeler is that the
steady-state flow pattern inside a tundish does not fully materialize until three
theoretical mean residence times (3) have elapsed.
Well-designed FMD systems improve the inclusion separation in tundishes.

In fact, a recent trend in water modeling has been the use of overhead mirrors to
allow simultaneous observations of front and plan views of the flow.

One recent study utilizing multiple views of the flow showed that streams do not
move as fronts, but rather tend to display split streams.[17]

Integrity of FMDs is important, as cracks and fractures in the shapes can significantly
impact the fluid flow.


EXAMPLE OF EFFECT OF PLACING FMDs IMPROPERLY:
It was observed in one instance[18] that Vortexing from the tundish surface into mold
occurred under steady-state conditions with an improperly placed baffle at the full
tundish operating head of 1000 mm.
It should be noted that when the
baffle was repositioned in the
tundish, the Vortexing could not be
re-created, suggesting that the
concentric flow velocities required to
sustain vortex motion over the well
nozzle had been diminished
significantly.
PICTURE OF A BAFFLE
Vortexing phenomena do not occur until the tundish level is in the 200300 mm
height range,[4] depending on tundish well nozzle placement.
Wedged weir/dam combination
and partially collapsed baffles
have been known to cause
rolling action at the surface of
even deep tundishes;
OTHER REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO TUNDISH DESIGN

Our design should be accompanied with the physical designs of shop floor entities like
design of tundish Car etc as well as allowable floor loadings and space clearances.
These physical limitations should always be inculcated in our design.


TRANSITION MODELING
In continuous casting, any grade change between heats results in a defined quantity of mixed
grade volume.

In modeling transitions, a tracer or dopant is introduced into the tundish model and
homogenized with water.

This mixture is considered the old steel (grade A). Grade A is drained to a specific depth to
simulate ladle exchange operations. Water of a different concentration, typically without tracer
addition, is used to simulate the introduction of new steel (grade B) at a flow rate simulating
normal tundish refill practice.

Once the normal operating depth is re-attained, the flow rate of grade B is throttled back to
normal steady-state casting conditions.

This procedure is visually observed, and the tracer concentration can be collected at the
outlet

Again, the data are graphed as a time-versus-concentration plot that is more commonly
referred to as an F-curve.

F-curves can be used to determine the length and predictability of grade change transitions at
various mixture requirements.
Due to Reoxidation, we can see in the picture, the freshly made slag.

To avoid the reoxidation, we use a submerged nozzle, however during ladle change
operation for few seconds there is an open ladle stream of steel entering the tundish.

The reoxidation product during that open stream pouring can actually affect the molten
steel of the tundish for the next 10 minutes of the casting.
Reoxidation during the transfer of heat
INACCURACY IN TRANSITION MODELING
Poor Mechanical properties at customer end due to down grading of the material
Discrepancy between plant data and a rudimentary transition model outdated by FMD
setup changes.
The model underestimated the actual
transition at 80% of intermix by some 43
tons, while the discrepancy at 95%
intermix completion more than doubled
this figure.

As can be seen from the plant data, the
actual chemical transition reached 95%
completion within 2530 minutes,
depending on strand throughput,
whereas the old model would continue to
downgrade the strand chemical quality
for an additional 2025 minutes.

The yield implications in this case
suggest a lost opportunity to sell about 90
tons of prime material per transition
event.
BY U. S. STEEL IN 1992.[20]
Poor Mechanical properties at customer end due to down grading of the material
What is the reverse transitioning
INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF TUNDISH
In mathematical modeling, melt flows in a tundish is represented by the turbulent Navier-
Stokes equation.

The solution of this equation with an appropriate set of boundary conditions provides detailed
information about the velocity and turbulence fields in the system. This information may be
further used to analyze various aspects of melt flow in tundishes.

The results obtained by these computer programs, like any other computer program, are
dependent on the assumptions and the boundary conditions used in solving them. Thus, any
inappropriate boundary condition may lead to erroneous and misleading results.

Mathematical modeling may also be a very useful link between a water model and an actual
tundish. Once mathematical model results are validated with water modeling results, they may
be easily used for obtaining results with confidence in a larger-scale tundish with molten metal.

Utilization of mathematical Modeling in terms of defining the size, shape and position of Flow
Control Devices has become very popular to save hit and trial wastages.

The results of a mathematical model be verified by actual experiments, such as water
modeling.





Melt flow for any tundish design can be characterized by the followings:

Solving Standard fluid flow equations
Solving the Heat Transfer Equations
Solving associated turbulence equations

Steady State Equation of the above categories are solved for the
period of normal casting Operations.

Time dependent or unsteady state equations are solved for the
period of ladle change operation

flow in a tundish is not necessarily laminar, it becomes mandatory to incorporate equations
for a turbulence model, such as the commonly used K- and two-equation models.

Turbulence flow equation for 3 dimension has to be studied because of introduction of
ladle change phenomenon. During ladle exchange flow does not remain laminar.

for a three dimensional, turbulent, steady-state flow problem in which heat transfer
aspects are considered, the steady-state form of the following equations will be solved:

Equation of continuity;
Momentum balance equations (three equations);
Turbulent kinetic energy, K and dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy, equations
for evaluating turbulent viscosity
Heat transfer equation
FLOW CLOSE TO THE SOLID WALL
I. Area near the solid walls the variation in flow properties is steeper than the
properties within the bulk fluid.

II. Wall Functions are used to Model Momentum (defined by Velocity component
defined in three directions), Scalar transport properties such as turbulent kinetic
energy and its dissipation.

III. No slip boundary conditions are imposed at the solid walls. It is known that wall
angles must be modeled correctly, as assumptions of rectangular box geometries
result in a misrepresentation of the hydrodynamics of tundish flow.
At the free surfaceoften assumed to be flat

At the symmetry planes, the normal velocity components and the normal gradients of all
other variables (momentum and scalar transport properties) are defined as zero.

At the jet entry, the velocity perpendicular to the free surface may be calculated from
the volumetric flow rate and the area of nozzle.

Since the jet flow generally is in highly turbulent range, a flat velocity profile in the
incoming jet may be assumed. Similar boundary conditions may also be imposed at the
outlet nozzle(s). ..TO BE ASKED BY VICHU SIR..AND WHAT IS FLAT
VELOCITY PROFILE????
The incoming liquid jet may be considered at a constant temperature. For modeling heat
fluxes through free surface and each wall, heat fluxes are assigned or estimated.

q. What is NO-SLIP BOUNDARY CONDITION???


The key to the success of modeling is, of course, the numerical solution procedure.
The computational domain is divided in a non-uniform grid in the three orthogonal
directions. It is generally a good practice to test the dependence of the grid size on the
solution of the problem. A finer grid does require more computing time but generally
results in a more accurate solution. Thus, a balance between the accuracy of the
solution and computer time must be struck.


The solutions of the steady-state equations are:

Velocity


Temperature field: The temperature field in the tundish indicates the areas where it
may be possible to freeze metal.


Turbulence field: The turbulent flow field plots show fast-moving and relatively slow-
moving or stagnant regions in the tundish. Careful examination of the flow field may
give qualitative indications of the plug, mixed and dead volumes in the tundish. For
quantitative evaluation of the plug, mixed and dead volumes in a tundish, RTD
Techniques are used.

NOTE: The percentages of plug, mixed and dead flow is not sufficient for determining
what setup should be used.


ROLE OF DEAD ZONES IN TUNDISH FLOTATION EFFICIENCY
Dead zones are mathematically defined by the region beyond 2 on an RTD curve,
and physically are zones of quasi-stagnant flow.

These zones most prominently occur in the shadow of FMDs, viz. the area
immediately behind a dam, weir, or baffle that the bulk flow bypasses.

The occurrence of dead volumes represents a deviation from ideal plug flow
behavior, resulting in a decrease in effective working volume of the tundish.

Mathematical modeling has proven to be quite effective in showing that merely
increasing the working volume of the tundish to counteract the reduced working
volume imposed by the stagnant flow region is not a guarantee for improved
inclusion flotation.
Figure provides an example of the fact that the spatial location of the dead zones is equally as
important as its magnitude.
normal weir/dam combination
The inclusion trajectory lines show that the first
scenario provides opportunities for contact
between the inclusions and the tundish slag
layer.
The inclusions are short-circuited toward the
well nozzle and thus into the cast strand in
the case where the high dam precedes the
short weir.
Effect of draining and filling as well as thermal gradients can be modeled using tank in
series approach borrowed from chemical Engineering concepts, These effects can have a
significant effect on the fluid flow in tundishes.


ADVANTAGES OF CHANGING OPERATING PARAMETER
OVER USING Flow Control Devices.

Better Mixing may be achieved by changing the geometrical
parameters(width, height, nozzle distance and their simultaneous
change), compare to using flow control devices like weir, Dam etc.

The use of dams and weirs has also led to the formation of dead
volume regions in the leeward sides, which leads to inhomogeneous
mixing in the tundish.

Fixing up dams and weirs in a tundish being much-involved job
poses another difficulty.

MIXED VOLUME
The mixed volume of tundish is closely connected with its inflow part, in which the kinetic
energy of pouring flow from the ladle ensures intensive mixing of steel.

PLUG FLOW
The characteristic feature of plug flow is uniform flow of liquid steel during which no element
foreruns the other elements. In the area of plug flow the steel flow has already the laminar
character and so there are better conditions for the rise of inclusions here. The flow of a body of
ice or viscous fluid with no shearing between adjacent layers; idealized flow without any mixing
of particles of fluid.

DEAD VOLUME OF TUNDISH
There are also areas in the tundish with the very slow flow of steel. These areas represent so-
called dead volume of tundish. Dead volume is defined as the area where the liquid steel stays
in tundish longer than the double of the average residence time. Existence of dead volume can
substantially decrease the active volume of tundish and so reduce the residence times of steel
in the tundish. In the area of dead volumes, the greatest danger of local solidification of steel
also exists. This is the reason for minimizing the dead volume in tundish.

SHORT-CIRCUIT FLOW:
When the coming steel practically immediately gets into the outlet of tundish, which is
undesirable with regard to steel purity and thermal homogeneity of cast steel in individual
strands.



Ref: Y. Sahai, R. Ahuja, Fluid flow and mixing of melt in
steelmaking tundishes, Ironmaking Steelmaking 13 (5) (1986)
241252.
In case of open pouring of steel the plunging Jet
entrains the significant volume of air(or Gas , in case
of an inert gas shrouded stream). The entrained gas
causes a strong upward buoyancy force and the
liquid flow in this region is reversed. The liquid
stream loses its downward momentum on entering
the tundish and reverses to the free surface, where
it flows downstream towards the tundish-mould
nozzle. In this case dead volume was found 23%
when no FMDs were used.

Use of Weir helps to push the flow downward and
eliminates the red circled dead zone but again
generate the blue circled dead zone region behind
itself. 17% DV is found.

Again use of Dam increases the dead volume by
creating the dead region (green circle) behind the
dam. DV increases to 27% again by this.

Free surface and tundish wall Dead Zone remain
unchanged. (orange circled)
OPEN POURING
TURBULANCE INHIBITORS:

By using turbulence inhibitor solely causes shortcut flow and bigger dead volume in the
tundish, and the tundish loses its metallurgical character in temperature, composition
and inclusion separation, but the turbulence inhibitor with an inner helical groove can be
used to control the flow field in the inpouring area.
Ref: LIU Jin-gang , YAN Hui-
cheng , Liu Liu , WANG Xin-
hua, Water Modeling of
Optimizing Tundish Flow
Field, JOURNAL OF IRON
AND STEEL RESEARCH,
INTERNAITONAL. 2007,
14(3): 13-19
Each of these physical control devices creates a slow, secondary recirculation in the
downstream region behind the device

The use of gas injection in conjunction with the physical control devices decreases the
dead volume by activating the low recirculating liquid and considerably increaes the
dispersed plug/dead volume ratio.
During Submerged stream pouring, liquid
enters the pool with sufficient downward
momentum to carry it right to the bottom.

Red circled regions are shown as dead
volume when there is no flow control
devices, blue circled is the dead zone when
weir is used and green circle indicates the
dead regions when dam is used.

Free surface and tundish wall Dead Zone
remain unchanged. (orange circled)

Ref: Y. Sahai, R. Ahuja, Fluid flow and mixing of melt in
steelmaking tundishes, Ironmaking Steelmaking 13 (5) (1986)
241252.
Melt Flow Characterization in Continuous Casting Tundishes, Yogeshwar SAHAI and
Toshihiko EMI, ISIJ International. Vol. 36 (1996), No. 6, pp. 667-672
SOME QUERIES:

Explain longitudinal mixing and transverse mixing??

In the plug fiow region, the longitudinal mixing is non-existent, however, there maybe
transverse mixing to any extent.


The residence time distribution (RTD) of a reactor is a probability distribution function
that describes the amount of time a fluid element could spend inside the reactor.