GOALI: Flow Dynamics and Inclusion Transport in Continuous Casting of Steel

这个赠款机会学术联络与工业（GOALI）项目的目的是提高瞬态流动的理解，夹杂物运输和缺陷形成的结晶器区域在连铸过程中的钢板，通过开发，验证和应用的基本计算模型的瞬态流体流动。 国内钢铁工业的持续生存取决于与低成本进口相比提高效率和钢材质量。 减少内部夹杂物的缺陷是实现这一目标的一种方法，同时提高钢的最低强度、疲劳寿命、表面外观、产量和能源效率（减少废品）。 在美国生产的1亿吨钢中，连铸生产了96%，并且是最后也是最重要的加工步骤，其中可以产生或去除夹杂物。 工厂观察发现，许多严重的质量问题，包括夹杂物截留，直接与模具中的流动模式有关。 许多模具工艺参数，如喷嘴几何形状和气体注射速率，很容易和廉价的改变，但对流动和相应的质量有深远的影响。 由于需要优化许多不同的操作和模具设计，传统的试错方法成本太高。 有了这笔赠款，在连铸瞬态流动的计算模型将被应用于研究相关的传输和夹杂物颗粒的捕获。 这些模型将通过水模型实验、钢铁厂试验和金相测量进行校准、验证和测试，这些测量将在工业合作伙伴LTV Steel和其他几家共同赞助这项研究的钢铁公司进行。 研究结果将增加对夹杂物传输的基本理解，并导致改进的结晶器流动模式，最大限度地减少夹杂物缺陷。 此外，在这项工作中开发的计算工具可以应用于优化在其他过程中的流动。

This Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project aims to improve the understanding of transient flow, inclusion transport and defect formation in the mold region during the continuous casting of steel slabs, through the development, validation, and application of fundamental computational models of transient fluid flow. Continued viability of the domestic steel industry depends upon improved efficiency and steel quality, relative to low cost imports. Lowering defects from internal inclusions is one way to achieve this, while simultaneously improving steel minimum strength, fatigue life, surface appearance, yield and energy efficiency (from reduced rejects). Continuous casting produces 96% of the 100 million tons of steel manufactured in the U.S. and is the last, and most important, processing step where inclusions can either be generated or removed. Plant observations have found that many serious quality problems, including inclusion entrapment, are directly associated with the flow pattern in the mold. Many mold process parameters, such as nozzle geometry and gas injection rate, are easy and inexpensive to change and yet have a profound influence on flow and corresponding quality. With many different operations and mold designs to optimize, the traditional trial and error approach is too costly. With this grant, computational models of transient flow in continuous casting will be applied to study the associated transport and entrapment of inclusion particles. The models will be calibrated, validated, and tested through water model experiments, steel plant trials, and metallographic measurements at the industrial partner, LTV Steel, and several other steel companies who are cosponsoring this research. The results will increase fundamental understanding of inclusion transport, and lead to improved mold flow patterns which minimize inclusion defects. Furthermore, the computational tools developed in this work can be applied to optimize flow in other processes.