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Investigation of Eccentric Open Eye Formation in a Slab Caster Tundish

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Abstract

Inert gas shrouding in tundish can result in the formation of a tundish open eye (TOE) due to the presence of reversed flows on the upper surface of the tundish. Prolonged presence of open eyes promotes reoxidation of liquid steel and creates harmful inclusions, which can ultimately result in clogging of SENs. In spite of its importance, not much work has been performed on TOEs. In our series of recent works (Chattopadhyay in Modelling of Transport Phenomena for Improved Steel Quality in a Delta-Shaped Four Strand Tundish, 2011; Chattopadhyay et al. in ISIJ Int 51: 573–580, 2011; Chatterjee and Chattopadhyay in ISIJ Int 55: 1416–1424, 2015; Metall Mater Trans B 41: 508–521, 2016; Metall Mater Trans B 47: 3099–3114, 2016; Chatterjee et al. in ISIJ Int 56: 1889–1892, 2016), although substantial efforts have been made to understand the basics of TOE formation process, a lot still remains to be deciphered. The current work deals with investigating a strange phenomenon observed during tundish operations: eccentric open eye formation. It is essential to gain proper insights of this matter in order to improve the operations, enhance liquid metal cleanliness, and generate more revenues. A mathematical model was developed using ANSYS-FLUENT 16.2. The standard k-ε turbulence model and the discrete phase method, coupled with the discrete random walk model was employed. Three different causes for eccentric open eye formation viz., unbalanced throughput, biased argon injection, and misalignment of ladle shroud have been analyzed. The predicted results correspond to both water model experiments and real plant observations.

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Abbreviations

k :

Kinetic energy of turbulence per unit mass, m2/s2

\( \overline{{u^{\prime}_{i} }} \) :

Time-averaged velocity in the direction xi, m s−1

x i :

Cartesian space coordinate

ε :

Rate of energy dissipation, m2/s3

v t :

Kinematic viscosity of fluid, m2 s−1

C 1 , C 2 , C µ , \( \sigma_{\text{k }} \;{\text{and}}\; \sigma_{{\varepsilon }} \) :

Empirical Constants

G k :

Rate of production of k, kg/ms3

µ t :

Turbulent viscosity, kg m−1s−1

ρ :

Density of the fluid, kg m−3

µ eff :

Effective viscosity, kg m−1s−1

µ :

Viscosity of the fluid, kg m−1s−1

u p :

Particle velocity, m s−1

C D :

Drag coefficient

d p :

Particle diameter, m

u rel :

Fluid velocity relative to the particle, m s−1

ρ P :

Density of the particle, kg m−3

a 1 , a 2 , a 3 :

Constants

\( \overline{u} \) :

Mean fluid phase velocity

\( u^{\prime}(t) \) :

Fluctuating fluid phase velocity component

\( \zeta \) :

Normally distributed random number

r :

Uniform random number, 0 < r < 1

\( \tau_{\text{e}} \) :

Time scale

\( \tau \) :

Particle relaxation time

T L :

Fluid Lagrangian integral time

L e :

Eddy length scale

Re:

Relative Reynolds number

L :

Characteristic length, m

TPM:

Tonnes per minute

LPM:

Liters per minute

DPM:

Discrete phase modeling

TOE:

Tundish open eye

STP:

Standard temperature and pressure

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank ANSYS Inc., SimuTech Group for their support toward the mathematical modeling research, and the colleagues at ArcelorMittal Dofasco Steelmaking Technology and Operations for support provided in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Process Metallurgy and Modeling Group, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, 184 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E4, Canada

    Saikat Chatterjee, Donghui Li & Kinnor Chattopadhyay

  2. Global R&D HamiltonArcelorMittal Dofasco, 1390 Burlington St E, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3J5, Canada

    Jackie Leung & Joydeep Sengupta

Authors
  1. Saikat Chatterjee
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  2. Donghui Li
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  3. Jackie Leung
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  5. Kinnor Chattopadhyay
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kinnor Chattopadhyay.

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Manuscript submitted May 20 2016.

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Chatterjee, S., Li, D., Leung, J. et al. Investigation of Eccentric Open Eye Formation in a Slab Caster Tundish. Metall Mater Trans B 48, 1035–1044 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-016-0899-z

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