Acta Metall. Sin.(Engl. Lett.)Vol.21 No.5 pp341-350 Oct.

2008

EFFECT OF SEN DESIGN ON SURFACE FLUCTUATION AND SOLIDIFYING SHELL IN SLAB MOLD AND ITS OPTIMIZATION
D.F. Wu and S.S. Cheng
School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing
100083, China
Manuscript received 24 September 2007

Turbulent ow and heat transfer coupled with solidication in slab continuous casting
mold was studied by numerical simulation method. Volume of uid (VOF) model is
used to solve steel-air two-phase ow problem and enthalpy-porosity scheme is introduced to solve the uid ow problem involving solidication. Contributions of various
nozzle port angles and port widths and heights on the free surface uctuation and
the thickness of solidifying shell in slab mold were particularly investigated, based on
which the structure of submerged entry nozzle was optimized. Flow inside the common nozzle port cannot ll the entire outlet area, having a recirculation in the upper
portion of the port, which is enlarged for the nozzle port with both larger height and
width. Results show that the ow in mold cavity is mainly controlled by the nozzle
port angle. The increase of the angle of upper face of the port to shape a roughly
streamlined inner-wall improves the eective area fraction of the nozzle, resulting in
less jet impingement, weaker free surface turbulence and thicker solidifying steel shell.
KEY WORDS
Slab continuous casting; Submerged entry nozzle; Optimization;
Numerical simulation

1. Introduction
The submerged entry nozzle (SEN) with two bifurcated ports is commonly applied in
slab continuous casting. As the source of the ow, the SEN decides the steel ow pattern
in the mold. For unreasonable nozzle design, impingement of hot liquid metal with high
momentum against the solidifying shell can contribute to shell thinning and costly breakout
as well as large surface uctuation.
Numerous researches had been performed in the past to understand how SEN design
aects ow in the mold[17] . However, a few of them were performed by using only water
models. Recently, some Japanese scholars[6] studied the argon injection behavior in nozzle
and mold through a fusible alloy model experiment. At present, numerical simulation
for continuous casting process is the most signicant one in this regard. An extensive
investigation of bifurcated nozzle ow was performed by Najjor et al.[7] , who explored
the eects of nozzle shape, angle, height, width, ports thickness, bottom geometry, inlet
velocity prole, and inlet shape. However, this research only concentrated on the analysis

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 26034512 or +86 15026420693

E-mail address: wudifeng 0121083@163.com (D.F. Wu)

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of the ow inside the nozzle, no attention was paid to the inuence of nozzle structure on
ow pattern, free surface wave as well as the thickness of solidifying steel shell.
Considering the advantage of numerical simulation, the present study based on the
nozzle structure itself investigates the eects of port angle, port width and height of the
SEN on steel ow pattern, free surface wave and solidifying shell prole. Various criteria
are adopted to evaluate a nozzle design, such as the port eective area fraction, surface
uctuation intensity and the shell thickness. And a simple way to improve the nozzle performance is found, that is enlarging the downward upper port angle of the SEN. Calculation
indicates that the optimized nozzle causes slighter surface wave, weaker impingement on
narrow face and more linear shell-thickness-growth with the distance from meniscus.
2. Mathematical Model
A series of complicated phenomena such as turbulent ow, heat transfer, solidication
and solute segregation take place in continuous casting process. It is impossible to consider
all these physical and chemical phenomena in the model. By properly simplifying the
model, the present study puts emphasis on ow and heat transfer in mold cavity, uctuation
on the upper free surface, and the solidifying shell prole. The assumptions in the model
are given as follows: (1) The ow and heat transfer are twofold symmetrical, so only one
quarter of the mold requires to be modeled. (2) The eects of mold oscillation and the
taper of the mold walls are not considered. (3) By ignoring the eect of the protective ux
layer, the interface of steel and air is treated as the free surface. (4) The density of the
liquid steel is constant regardless of the natural convection in molten pool because of the
temperature dierence.
The schematic model of slab mold is
shown in Fig.1. Considering the symmetrical center of the air outlet plane as the
origin, and the slab width, thickness, and
height directions as x, y, and z directions,
respectively, a Cartesian coordinate system
was built. As we know, two large recirculation ows exist in the mold, and the lower
recirculation is still present at the mold outlet. Therefore 2.1 meter is considered as the
model height to avoid treating backow in
the mold outlet directly and to gain the insight into the lower recirculation.
The structure of the SEN applied in slab
Fig.1 Schematic model of slab mold.
continuous casting is shown in Fig.2. It is a
cylinder with two ports close to the bottom.
The port angle is commonly in downward range from 0 to 30 degree.
The present model considers the ow of molten steel in the mold as a three-dimensional
steady-state multiphase ow with solidication. Volume of uid (VOF) model[8] can model
two or more immiscible uids by solving a single set of momentum equations and tracking
the volume fraction of each of the uids throughout the computational domain. If the ux
layer is ignored, there is an obvious interface between air and steel, where VOF model is

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competent to track the wave. The standard two-equation K- model is chosen
to describe the turbulence ow[9,10] . Despite explicitly tracking the liquid-solid front,
the present model uses an enthalpy-porosity
formulation[1113] to characterize the ow of
mushy zone because of the solidication. The
liquid-solid mushy zone is considered as a
porous zone with porosity equal to the liquid
fraction, and appropriate momentum sink
terms are added to the momentum equations
to account for the pressure drop caused by
the presence of solid steel.
Equations need to be solved in the
model include continuity equation, momentum equation (with interface tension terms
and momentum sink terms because of solidFig.2 Structure of the SEN.
ication), K- equations and energy equations with solidication. All these equations are omitted in this article, and more information can be found in Refs.[8][13].
The following boundary conditions are applied along the computational domain: (1)
At the inlet of the SEN, a uniform normal velocity was specied according to the mass ow
rate at the mold outlet and the turbulent parameters were calculated by semi-empirical
formulas. In addition, casting temperature was given as the thermal boundary at the inlet.
(2) At the outlet of the model, mass ow was consistent with the nozzle inlet, and normal
gradient of other variables were assumed to zero. (3) Pressure was specied as constant
and heat ux was set to be zero at the air outlet. (4) For the narrow and wide symmetrical
planes, the normal gradient of all variables were zero except the velocity perpendicular to
the surface which itself was assumed to be zero. (5) No slip condition was applied to the
narrow and wide faces of the mold, and the slab was automatically withdrawn with casting
speed when the molten steel solidied. The average heat transfer coecients between mold
walls and surrounding were specied. Other walls were supposed to be adiabatic.
The basic simulation conditions for slab casting and thermo-physical properties of
molten steel and air are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. Optimization for
nozzle is based on the research results of the inuence of port angle and outlet area on the
air-steel interface uctuation and solidifying shell prole.
Table 1 Simulation conditions for slab casting
Parameter
Slab thickness
Slab width
Mold length
SEN bore diameter
Port size (widthheight)
SEN submergence depth

Value
220 mm
1550 mm
900 mm
60 mm
45 mm75 mm
150 mm

Parameter
Nozzle port angle
Casting speed
Casting temperature
Heat transfer coecient at narrow face
Heat transfer coecient at wide face

Value
downward 15
1.0 m/min
1540 C
1069 W/(m2 C)
975 W/(m2 C)

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Table 2 Physical properties of molten steel and air
Parameter
Steel density
Steel viscosity
Steel thermal conductivity
Steel specic heat
Steel latent heat of fusion
Liquidus temperature

Value
7020 kg/m3
0.0055 kg/(ms)
46.4 W/(m C)
628 J/(kg C)
268 kJ/kg
1514 C

Parameter
Solidus temperature
Air density
Air viscosity
Air thermal conductivity
Air specic heat

Value
1490 C
1.225 kg/m3
1.789105 kg/(ms)
0.024 W/(m C)
1006 J/(kg C)

3. Results and Discussion

3.1

Eect of SEN port angle

The primary function of the angle built into the SEN ports is to direct the molten steel
jet at a desired angle from the SEN into the mold. And the jet angle mainly aects the
position of impingement point on the narrow face of the shell, which decides the location
and scale of the upper and lower large recirculation zones and the surface wave. Three cases
using nozzles with port angle of downward 0, 15 and 25 degree are investigated respectively.
The velocity vector elds for the above three port angles are plotted in Fig.3. It is observed
that larger downward port angle causes deeper impingement point position which results
in the center of the lower recirculation moving towards low and centric part of the mold,
and causes weaker upward return ow as well as more diculty for oating of inclusions.
On the other hand, steeper port angle increases the region of the upper recirculation, which
reduces the free surface velocity because the surface-toward upward ow near the narrow
wall gets more damping.
Curved face where steel volume fraction equals 0.5 is set as the steel-air interface in
the VOF model. Fig.4 shows the wave and velocity on the interface at symmetrical zx plane for dierent port angles. It seems that steeper port angle eectively decreases

Fig.3 Velocity vector elds at symmetrical z-x plane for dierent port angles: (a) 0 , (b) 15 , (c) 25 .

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Fig.4 Wave and velocity on air-steel interface at symmetrical z-x plane for dierent port angles:
(a) interface wave, (b) interface velocity.

Fig.5 Impinging x-velocity prole on a vertical line nearby the centerline of the
shell on narrow face for dierent port
angles.

Fig.6 Growth of shell thickness on centerline

of narrow face with the distance from
meniscus for dierent port angles.

the surface uctuation and velocity. We dene the height dierence between the wave
crest and trough as maximal wave height (MWH). When the port angle changes from 0
to 25 degree, the MWH decreases from 11.6 to 3.8 mm, and the maximal surface velocity
decreases from 0.38 to 0.20 m/s, correspondingly. Meanwhile, steeper port angle makes
the wave trough move towards the narrow face of the mold.
Fig.5 presents impinging x-velocity prole on a vertical line (x=0.760, y=0) nearby the
centerline of the solidifying shell on narrow face (x=0.775, y=0) for dierent port angles.
The x-velocity component perpendicular to the narrow face represents the impact strength
towards the shell, and the position with x-velocity maximum on the line is the so-called
impingement point. If the port angle from 0 to 25 degree is varied, the vertical distance of
the impingement point toward meniscus increases from 260 to 470 mm, and the impinging
x-velocity decreases from 0.10 to 0.025 m/s. It is clear that the jet discharging from the
nozzle with a steeper port angle goes through a longer walk to the narrow face of the mold,
so more dissipation and damping occur, which reduce jet erosion to the shell and increase
the shell thickness near impingement point. Fig.6 describes the growth of shell thickness

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on centerline of narrow face with the distance from meniscus for the three port angles,
where liquid fraction of 0.1 is considered as the borderline for liquid and mushy steel. The
jet from the smaller downward angle acts a stronger impingement on the shell of narrow
face, which causes no increase for the thinner shell thickness in a certain range near the
impingement point. This case is prone to breakout. On the contrary, for larger port angle,
the thicker shell thickness linearly increases with the distance from meniscus. It eectively
prevents breakout.
3.2 Eect of SEN port outlet area
The port outlet area mainly aects the distribution of jet velocity at the port outlet
and consequently, decides the ow pattern in the mold. Four nozzles with xed 15 port
angle and dierent port widths and heights, including nozzles with 75 mm height and 40,
45, 50 mm width respectively as well as the one with 100 mm height and 45 mm width,
are compared. Basically, the mean jet velocity is inversely proportional to the port outlet
area, i.e. larger area causes smaller velocity. However, for the nozzle with 15 downward
angle, steel ow with high speed in nozzle bore takes a big turning at the port, which
brings a recirculation ow at the upper portion of the port. Therefore, the ow cannot
ll the entire outlet area so that the eect of increasing outlet area for smaller velocity is
insignicant.
Fig.7 shows the streamlines inside the
nozzles with 75 and 100 mm port height. It
seems that the upper recirculation portion
increases in the port with larger port height.
Totally, the eective port areas for these two
are similar, so a jet with a visibly smaller velocity cannot be obtained by increasing port
height. At a certain casting speed, Fig.8
compares the contours of x-velocity component at port outlets with dierent port areas,
where positive value indicates that the ow
exits the nozzle domain and negative value
indicates that it re-enters into the nozzle.
Fig.7 Streamline distribution inside the nozzle for dierent port heights (h): (a)
The ow velocity on the port outlet has a
h=75 mm, (b) h=100 mm.
peak at the bottom part of the nozzle and
gradually decreases upwards until changing
direction. By keeping port height the same and varying the port width from 40 to 50 mm,
eective port area increases along the direction of width, but reduces along the direction
of height, which only leads to a slight decrease of mean jet velocity. From Fig.8d, we also
know that the eect of increase of port height on weakening the jet is little. If the fraction
of the outlet port area where the ow has a positive x component of velocity is dened as
the eective area fraction, then this fraction for four nozzles in Fig.8ad is 73%, 69%, 65%
and 59% respectively, which indicates that both increasing port width and height reduces
this fraction.
Furthermore, calculation results show that the maximal wave heights on free surface
are 7.7, 6.9, 6.9 and 8.1 mm, shell thicknesses at the center of narrow side of the mold

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Fig.8 X-velocity contours at port outlets with dierent port areas (widthheight): (a) 4075, (b) 4575,
(c) 5075, (d) 45100 (mmmm).

outlet are 12.9, 13.1, 14.2 and 14.4 mm, and the shell thicknesses at the center of the wide
side are 21.1, 21.0, 21.6 and 20.9 mm for above four nozzles, respectively. In addition, for
all four nozzles, a zero-increase step is present in the shell prole near the impingement
point on the narrow face of the mold. Therefore, the inuence of changing nozzle port area
on weakening the detrimental surface wave and increasing shell thickness is insignicant.
3.3 Optimization for SEN
On the basis of the upper parts, we know that larger port outlet area can decrease
the jet velocity and promote the growth of shell, but the eect is quite little. First, the
possibility of increasing port outlet area is low especially for port width because of the
restricted nozzle bore diameter. Second, although port height can vary in a wide range,
the increased one strengthens the surface uctuation. According to the characteristics of
streamline inside the nozzle and the consideration of eect of port angle and area, the
nozzle design is improved. Both the streamlines of common nozzle with 15 port angle and improved one are plotted in Fig.9.
Comparing with the common one, the new
nozzle with the same port outlet area of
45 mm75 mm has a 60 downward angle at
the upper face, and keeps the lower face angle
the same. The improved nozzle with roughly
streamlined inner wall makes the ow ll the
entire outlet and signicantly enhances the
Fig.9 Streamline distribution inside the nozeective port area. Fig.9 clearly indicates
zle for two dierent nozzles: (a) comthat no recirculation exists at the improved
mon one, (b) improved one.
nozzle outlet.

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Fig.10 x-velocity contours at port outlets for

two dierent nozzles: (a) common one,
(b) improved one.

Fig.11 Wave and velocity on air-steel interface

at symmetrical z-x plane for two dierent nozzles.

Fig.10 presents the contours of x-velocity component at port outlets for the common
and improved ones. Obviously, no backow occurs at the new nozzle outlet, so that outlet
velocity is smaller and more uniform. After optimization, the peak x-velocity at the vertical
centerline of the port outlet changes from 1.8 to 1.2 m/s, decreasing one third.
Wave and velocity proles on air-steel interface at symmetrical z-x plane for the common and improved nozzles are given in Fig.11. After improvement, the maximal wave
heights on free surface decreases from 6.9 to 2.4 mm, and the peak surface velocity decreases from 0.31 to 0.19 m/s, so the novel design can eectively weaken the surface wave.
Fig.12 shows impinging x-velocity prole on a vertical line (x=0.760, y=0) nearby
the centerline of the solidifying shell on narrow face (x=0.775, y=0) for the common and
improved nozzles. It is observed that the use of improved nozzle with larger upper face port
angle does not move the impingement point downwards and the x-velocity at impingement
point changes from 0.079 m/s for the common nozzle to 0.029 m/s for the new one, resulting
in weaker impingement on the shell.
Fig.13 describes shell thickness proles on centerlines of both narrow and wide faces
with the distance from meniscus for the common and improved nozzle. The improved one
promotes the formation and growth of solidifying shell on the narrow face, especially on
the upper part of the mold, so that the shell thickness linearly increases as desired and
prevents breakout in eect.
One quarter of the shell prole at the mold outlet cross-section is shown in Fig.14a,
where the black region represents the shell. With the schematic of the Fig.14a, Fig.14b
plots the curves of shell thickness varied with the length along shell sides on dierent slab
cross-sections for the two nozzles. Two horizontal cross-sections, the mold outlet and the
one in which the impingement point is on are chosen. One quarter of the cross-section
perimeter (W /2+D/2) and the shell thickness are set as x and y axes in the above gure
which describes the distribution of shell thickness along the sides of the slab cross-section.
The shell thickness is dened as the perpendicular distance from the inner point to the side
of the cross-section, the points at the corner of the slab are excluded, so that the curves

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Fig.12 Impinging x-velocity prole on a vertical line nearby the centerline of the
shell on narrow face for two dierent
nozzles.

Fig.13 Growth of shell thicknesses on centerlines of narrow and wide faces for two
dierent nozzles.

are broken near the corner. We can conclude from the gure that the position with
least shell thickness lies in the center of narrow side for both two cross-sections. And
the shell thickness near the corner of wide
face is also very little, because after reaching
the narrow face, the impinging jet rapidly
spreads towards the two wide faces and
erodes the shell at the corner of the wide
faces. The shell thickness is thinner in narrow face especially in the impingement crosssection by using the common nozzle, and the
least minimum is 4.8 mm. However, the minimal thickness at the narrow face at impingement cross-section grows to 7.8 mm by using the improved one, and the thickness is
more uniform at this cross-section, which can
lessen breakout rmly. Moreover, the shell
thickness at center of narrow side on mold Fig.14 Shell thickness on slab cross-sections:
(a) prole of shell (in black) at mold outoutlet cross-section is increased from 13.1 to
let, (b) curves of shell thickness varied
15.2 mm.
with the length along shell sides (1 3 using common nozzle, 2 4 using improved
To sum up, the optimized nozzle can imone; 1 2 on mold outlet cross-section, 3
prove the eective port area, reduce the ve4 on impingement cross-section).
locity of the impinging jet, weaken the impact on the narrow shell face, increase the
shell thickness of narrow face, and especially make the shell thickness more uniform at the
slab impingement cross-section. It can also weaken the free surface uctuation and reduce
the detrimental entrainment. In addition, it will not move the lower recirculation of the

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mold downwards, so that the inclusion oating will not be stopped. Therefore, it is worth
to use the new nozzle if having no diculty for manufacture. Its thermal performance
should be further checked for approval.
The calculation results were veried in certain steel plant where breakout took place at
the narrow face and the corners of the wide faces for several times, and the modication
with new nozzle is under way.
4. Conclusions
(1) Steeper nozzle port angle evidently reduces the strength of the impinging jet, makes
the shell thickness on narrow face grow linearly with the height. It can also weaken the
free surface uctuation eectively. However, it causes the jet impingement point moving
downwards and disturbs the inclusions oating.
(2) There is an obvious recirculation ow at the upper portion of the port for the
common nozzle. The increase of port width or height cannot decrease the port outlet
velocity eectively, because larger port area leads to less eective port outlet area fraction
and the range of changeable area is limited.
(3) The increase of port angle of the upper face to form a roughly streamlined inner wall
can enhance the eective port outlet area evidently. The optimized nozzle can weaken the
impact on the narrow shell face, increase the shell thickness of narrow face, and especially
make the shell thickness more uniform at the slab impingement cross-section. It can also
weaken the free surface uctuation. In addition, it will not stop the inclusion oating.
AcknowledgementsThis study was nancially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No.60672145).
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