Numerical study on a new swirling flow pocket brick for tundish upper nozzle during continuous casting of steel

• Published in: Ironmaking & steelmaking Vol. 50; no. 10; pp. 1489 - 1501
• Main Authors: Qin, Xufeng, Cheng, Changgui, Li, Yang, Zhang, Chunming, Jin, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 26.11.2023
• Subjects: tundish; nozzle; Swirling flow; pocket brick; continuous casting; wall shear stress; residence time distribution; numerical simulation
• ISSN: 0301-9233; 1743-2812
• DOI: 10.1080/03019233.2023.2266262

In this study, a new, simple-structured swirling flow pocket brick (SFPB) equipped on the upper nozzle of a tundish is proposed. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effect of the SFPB on the liquid steel flow in the tundish and nozzle in comparison with that in a conventional tundish. The results indicate that the SFPB can reduce the dead volume fraction, increase the mixed flow volume with low risk of slag entrapment in the tundish, and generate a swirling flow in the nozzle. As the distance from the nozzle inlet increases, the swirling velocity decreases and the static pressure in the nozzle section increases. A higher velocity and static pressure are recorded in the near-wall region at the upper part of the nozzle, where the turbulent kinetic energy decreases significantly from 0.037 m2 s−2 in a conventional tundish nozzle to 0.013 m2 s−2 in the proposed SFPB tundish..