2008 Volume 48 Issue 4 Pages 430-437
Wall shear stress due to flow of the molten steel in the tundish is one of the factor for erosion of refractory walls which decides sequence length of a tundish. The flow-induced shear stress on the wall of a six strand curved type billet caster tundish has been computed by a 3-D mathematical model. The location of predicted peak wall shear stress was found to be same as observed in the plant after a sequence. Different design parameters of the tundish such as wall inclination angle, curvature radius, and tundish width are studied by analyzing the flow-induced wall shear stress. The role of a pouring chamber is assessed with respect to the wall shear stress. It was found that vigorous circulation around the inlet stream from shroud plays a major role in deciding the extent of the wall shear stress. Use of pouring chamber resulted in lesser wall shear stress than that of a bare tundish. The peak shear stress was found to be decreasing as any of the design parameters increased within a range. A modification in design parameter of the tundish can reduce the wall shear stress, thus may help to improve the sequence life of the tundish.