The structure of the turbulent flow in a slab mold is studied using a water model, various experimental techniques, and mathematical simulations. The meniscus stability depends on the turbulence structure of the flow in the mold; mathematical simulations using the k-model and the Reynolds-stress model (RSM) indicate that the latter is better at predicting the meniscus profile for a given casting speed. Reynolds stresses and flow vorticity measured through the particle-image velocimetry (PIV) technique are very close to those predicted by the RSM model, and maximum and minimum values across the jet diameter are reported. The backflow in the upper side of the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) port (for a fixed SEN design) depends on the casting speed and disappears, increasing this process parameter. At low casting speeds, the jet does not report enough dissipation of energy, so the upper flow roll is able to reach the SEN port. At high casting speeds, the jet energy is strongly dissipated inside the SEN port, the narrow wall, and in the mold corner, weakening the momentum transfer of the upper flow roll, which is unable to reach the SEN port. At low casting speeds, meniscus instability is observed very close to the SEN, while at high casting speeds, this instability is observed in the mold corner. An optimum casting speed is reported where complete meniscus stability was observed. The flow structure at the free surface indicates a composite structure of islands with large gradients of velocity at high casting speeds. These velocity gradients are responsible for the meniscus instability.

Fluid flow dynamics during ladle drainage operations of steel under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions has been studied using the turbulence shear stress transport k-model (SST k-) and the multiphase volume of fluid (VOF) model. At high bath levels, the angular velocity of the melt, close to the ladle nozzle, is small rotating anticlockwise and intense vertical-recirculating flows are developed in most of the liquid volume due to descending steel streams along the ladle vertical wall. These streams ascend further downstream driven by buoyancy forces. At low bath levels, the melt, which is close to the nozzle, rotates clockwise with higher velocities whose magnitudes are higher for shorter ladle standstill times. These velocities are responsible for the formation and development of a vortex on the bath free surface, which entrains slag into the nozzle by shear-stress mechanisms at the metal-slag interface. The critical bath level or bath height for this phenomenon is 0.35 m (in this particular ladle design) for a ladle standstill time of 15 minutes and decreases with longer ladle standstill times. At these steps, the vertical-recirculating flows are substituted by complex horizontal-rotating flows in most of the liquid volume. Under isothermal conditions, the critical bath level for vortex formation on the melt free surface is 0.20 m, which agrees very well with that determined with a 1/3 scale water model of 0.073 m. It is concluded that buoyancy forces, originated by thermal gradients, as the ladle cools, are responsible for increasing the critical bath level for vortex formation. Understanding vortex mechanisms will be useful to design simple and efficient devices to break down the vortex flow during steel draining even at very low metal residues in the ladle.

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