Modeling of turbulent heat transfer during the solidification process of continuous castings

Prandtl mixing length theory with average heat capacity was successfully implemented to model turbulent continuous casting (CC) process. This method features the simplicity of zero equation model along with ease of maintaining higher time step increment using average heat capacity method. A series of simulations were investigated to study the effect of inlet speed ( Pe), superheat ( Θ o), mold cooling rate ( Bi m) and post mold cooling rate ( Bi p) on the process characteristics and were presented in terms of viscosity contours, location and slope of the solidification front, axial velocity profiles, velocity vectors, local heat flux and shell thickness. The ranges of the parameters studied in the current work were: Pe = 3.5–6.1, Θ o = 1.2–2.0, Bi m = 0.2–0.4 and Bi p = 0.1–0.4. The effect of mold length ( L m) was also investigated to establish remedies of breakout due to higher Pe and Θ o. The current studies reveal that Pe, Θ o and L m have significant effect on the performance and productivity of the cast material.