2005 Volume 45 Issue 11 Pages 1626-1635
The flow patterns prevailing at the free-surface in a water model of a slab continuous casting mold using several water flow rates and entry nozzle submergence depths are experimentally and numerically studied in this work. The experimental study was carried out using an one-third scale cold water model, constructed in accordance with the Froude similarity criterion. Water level measurements were carried out with ultrasonic distance sensors and recorded in a computer. Numerical simulations were made with a commercial computational fluid dynamics software. It was found that free-surface oscillations are composed by several periodic components. There exists a fundamental periodic frequency of 1.2 Hz. Besides, there exist two other frequencies of 1.8 and 2.1 Hz whose contribution to the free surface dynamic behavior depend on the spatial position and on the process parameters, namely, the volumetric flow rate and the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) submergence depth. In accordance with the obtained results, several recommendations about operating policies of actual industrial casters are made.
