A common problem that affects the continuous casting process is the formation of a sink funnel or a vortex funnel in the end of the teeming process of a steel ladle. This causes the slag to be carried over with the molten steel to the tundish, generating inclusions in the produced steel ingot. In this work we propose an innovative device designed to delay the sink-funnel formation and hence decrease the critical draining height. The apparatus consists of an air-suctioning spear that induces a reduced pressure gradient just above the slag/air interface, in a position vertically alignedwith the draining nozzle axis. The device operation was modeled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The results showed that the introduction of the suctioningspear allowedfor an optimizedladle teeming process, resulting in a shorter critical draining height, thus, reducing the amount of leftover steel to be recycled.

This study presents a methodology to validate CFD simulations of the spray fuel injection using an experimental bench and optical measurement tools along with the Shadowgraph Technique. The parameter used for validating the experiments is the penetration rate, under situations of 6 bar and 100 bar injection pressures. The results show a penetration rate difference lower than 3% between the numerical model and the physical test. The visual plots, considering the shape and angles of the spray, also matched. Once validated, the numerical model could be applied to dynamic models of internal combustion engines and used to elaborate injection strategies for future projects.