During continuous casting, some amount of metal is left in the tundish at the end of the casting sequence to avoid slag entrapment into continuous casting mould. This tundish loss often called as skull loss. It reduces the caster yield and is directly related to the size of the tundish. JSW Steel operates with 44 T, 8 strand billet caster tundish which had ~7T tundish loss under previous operational practice. Water modelling studies were carried out using a 0.25 scale model to design a new tundish bottom to reduce tundish skull loss. Three different tundish bottom configurations were studied and the corresponding effect on tundish flow profile and vortex formation was also investigated. Based on water modelling results, the optimized tundish design was used for plant trials. A 47% reduction in skull loss was obtained with no adverse effect on steel cleanliness from different strands.

JSW Steel, Vijayanagar works operates a 44 T, eight-strand billet caster for continuous casting. Such large volume tundish has large differences between the central and the end strands from the shroud which affects the cleanliness and solidification between different strands. With an aim to improve the steel cleanliness in central strands, water modelling studies were carried out in a 0.25-scale perspex water model. Different configurations of dams were studied under steady and unsteady state conditions. The combination of the wedge and V-shaped dam configuration resulted in increasing the mean residence time of the central strand without affecting the flow behaviour of the last strands. Residence time at central strands increased by 15% and does not affect the vortex formation height. It was further validated on a plant scale tundish. Plant trials demonstrated a reduction in inclusion area percentage by 21% confirming the improved steel cleanliness in central strands.