Numerical analysis of unsteady hydrodynamics and thermal transport in five-strand asymmetric tundish

In this work, a numerical study was carried out to characterise the hydrodynamics and heat transport in a five-strand asymmetric billet caster tundish. Employing a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model, several numerical experimentations were carried out to capture the exact physics of complex fluid flow and thermal transport in the tundish. Plant practices were simulated by considering seven distinct cases and analysed in detail. Tundish filling operation was tried out with volume of fluid methodology. The effects of thermal buoyancy, its effect on thermofluidic heat transfer and the abrupt change in thermal gradients at different zones in the tundish flow domain were explained after detailed analysis. Refractory heating simulations were performed, and results were analysed in detail. This is the first time that such an exhaustive numerical study on an asymmetric tundish has been reported.