Abstract—A three dimensional mathematical model has been developed to study the effect of degree of superheat and casting speed in continuous casting of steel slab. Study is based on investigation of heat transfer and solidification behaviour of steel within mold and Secondary Cooling Zone (SCZ). The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software Ansys Fluent 13.0 has been used to solve the discretized equations with realizable k- turbulence model. For solidification, Enthalpy- Porosity technique was used which treats the mushy region (partially solidified region) as a “pseudo” porous medium. Liquid fraction of steel in the mushy region has been traced to find the solidified shell thickness. However, calculations were made to find the temperature distribution and metallurgical length at different degree of superheat and casting speed. Result shows that superheat has a little effect on temperature distribution and metallurgical length of strand while casting speed has a significant effect. High casting speed may cause inadequate thickness of the solidified shell at the mold exit to withstand the Ferro-static pressure of the molten metal below the mold. It may also leads to breakout due to sticking of solidified shell and mold because of lack of slag film for lubrication between the two.

Index Terms—Solidification, Continuous casting, CFD, Heat transfer, Mathematical modelling

Cite:Ambrish Maurya and Pradeep Kumar Jha, "Effect of Casting Speed on Continuous Casting of Steel Slab ," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Special Issue, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 13-21, January 2014.