Thermal stress evaluation in the steel continuous casting process

Two numerical models for the thermal stress and plastic strain analysis in the solid shell at the initial stage of a steel continuous casting process, are presented and their performances evaluated. First, a numerical procedure based on a natural extension of the semi‐analytical study proposed by Weiner and Boley (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 1963; 11:145–154) is introduced and validated by comparison with their semi‐analytical 1‐D solution. The basic hypotheses of this model, and particularly the extended plane strain condition with uniform axial strain, are afterwards tested in more complex and realistic situations by comparing results with those obtained by an alternative numerical scheme presented by Fachinotti (Doctoral Thesis, Universidad Nac. Litoral, Argentina, 2001) and Fachinotti and Cardona (Internal Report, CIMEC, sent to IJNME, 2002). Finally, results of a typical and representative 3D simulation, corresponding to a slab continuous casting process, are shown. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.