Magnetohydrodynamic flows and heat transfer in a twin-channel induction heating tundish

Abstract

Induction heating (IH) electromagnetic field has a significant positive effect on the uniform temperature distribution in tundishes and decreases molten steel superheat to improve the quality of billets in continuous casting. To achieve the effect of electromagnetic force and Joule heating for molten steel in a channel-type IH tundish, a magnetohydrodynamic model is developed and validated by industrial experiment data. The molten steel in the tundish channel has a rotating velocity under the off-centre electromagnetic force. Its flow pattern consists of two contra-rotating vortices close to the outlet zone of the channels. The upper and lower vortices in the tundish channel change with time. The temperature distribution in the cross-sections is almost stable, and the maximum temperature increases by 30.1°C. Molten steel runs upward after flowing past the tundish channel, whose density decreases because of IH. The upward motion changes when the electromagnetic force acts on the molten steel. Results reveal that electromagnetic force has a significant effect on the flow of molten steel in the tundish, and that flow pattern varies in the tundish with or without electromagnetic force under Joule heating.

Flow Field, Temperature Field, and Inclusion Removal in a New Induction Heating Tundish with Bent Channels

“…where ρ is the density of the liquid steel, and it is the function of temperature (ρ = 8523 − 0.8358T), → u is the velocity of the liquid steel, p is the static pressure, → g is the gravitational acceleration vector [17,18], µ eff is the effective viscosity [19], and → F m is the volumetric force [8,9]. The standard k-ε model [20,21] is:…”

“…The induction heating of the continuous casting tundish could make the temperature distribution more uniform. Yue et al [9] carried out numerical simulation as well as industrial experiment to study the magnetic flow and heat transfer in a twin-channel induction heating tundish. They found that there was a significant effect of electromagnetic force on the molten steel flow in the tundish, and that the flow pattern varied with Joule heating, while the electromagnetic force had little effect on it.…”

Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a Tundish with Channel Type Induction Heating

“… Theoretical method can give mathematical expressions only for some very simple electromagnetic or metallurgical conditions . Because electromagnetic metallurgy always involve multi‐physics coupling, it is difficult for us to get analytical solution. Numerical simulation can give the detailed information about the electromagnetic metallurgy process in the tundish with channel type induction heating . But some assumptions are introduced in the mathematical model because of the complexity of MHD phenomena.…”

Electromagnetic Conditions in a Tundish with Channel Type Induction Heating

“…But such a metallurgical behavior involves in a complex MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) processes, so most of the documents focused on the metallurgical effect of channel type induction heating. [14][15][16][17] Although a few of papers gave the brief description for electromagnetic conditions in the tundish, [18,19] and indicated that the magnetic field, the pinch force field, and Joule heat power density field are not uniform in the channel, but their governing equations about magnetic vector potential A * cannot applied in the coil because there is not any source currents in the governing equations. [18] Thus, it is necessary to give the complete governing equations.…”