CIVS Casting Research Presented at AIST Continuous Casting Spring Meeting

On February 25 and26, CIVS Graduate Research Assistant & Ph.D. student Dianzhi Meng was invited to present at the AIST Continuous Casting Technology Committee Spring Meeting in Louisville, KY. Approximately 30 people attended the meeting. There were 6 talks, 5 of which were student presentations to industry professionals. Attendees also toured Nucor Brandenburg’s new casting shop.

The presentation was titled “CFD Modeling of Twin-Slab Caster”. Co-authors include CIVS Graduate Research Assistant Sai Bhuvanesh Nandipati, CIVS Associate Director for Operations Armin Silaen, U.S. Steel Senior Casting Process Engineer Rudolf Moravec, and CIVS Director Chenn Zhou.

The SEN of twin-slab caster is off-centered, which exhibits widthwise asymmetry, influencing heat transfer and solidification. This study employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the effects of this asymmetry on temperature distribution and shell formation for slabs with different widths. A three-dimensional model is established, with solidification modeled using the enthalpy-porosity approach. The thermal boundaries is treated separately—the mold employs the Savage-Prichard heat flux model, whereas the slab cooling is defined using an HTC correlation based on real nozzle configurations. Results show that the temperature difference between loose and fixed sides exceeds 250°C, with the maximum value observed near the slab’s inner corner. Shell thickness and metallurgical length are directly linked to mold heat flux. Additionally, wider slabs demonstrate greater asymmetry. These findings provide insights into optimizing secondary cooling strategies to reduce thermal asymmetry and improve solidification uniformity in twin-slab casting.