Analysis of the Fluid Flow for Liquid Steel at the Drain System of Tundishes Using Different Stopper Rod Configurations

Steelmaking is one of the most important industries worldwide due to many products being made with different kinds of steel or cast iron; during processing, pig iron and scrap are founded in furnaces and then transported in ladles to be cast in tundishes towards strains to produce steel billets, which are treated in a secondary manufacturing process to produce products like wires and profiles. Then, it is necessary to pay attention to every process and establish rules for safe operational practices, avoid interruptions in production, reduce risks and maintain quality. Thus, the purpose of this research is to study the hydrodynamic behavior of five stopper rods with different but basic geometrical configurations. Stopper rods are devices that are used to control the fluid flow in tundishes to allow or avoid a steel fluid drain. Stopper rods are placed to allow or avoid the liquid steel passing out towards the molds in the deepest holes in the tundishes. Management, drive and mass transport are important parameters to analyze for casting molten steel. After analyzing the hydrodynamic performance of these five stopper rods, and according to the results obtained, two more new designs were created and tested in real industrial trials, and the results are described in detail. Additionally, a study about the counting of the inclusions trapped in the rod walls is also shown to evaluate every design, with the main goal being to retain the flows passing across the stopper rod and the exit nozzle and to avoid clogging problems in order to keep constant the casting of molten steel. Hydro-dynamic analysis was carried out by solving the Navier–Stokes equation using the k-ε turbulence model using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).