NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF ELECTRO-SLAG REMELTING PROCESS

Abstract

Flow and heat transfer characteristics in the electro-slag remelting process (ESR) are important in manufacturing steel of good quality. An integrated numerical model is developed to compute the flow field and the temperature distribution inside ESR units with a metal pool profile which is solved simultaneously. In addition to the conservative equations of mass, momentum, energy, and turbulent properties, Maxwell's equations are employed to obtain the electromagnetic field by either AC or DC power supply. The results include the effects of power supply type, current amplitude, casting rate, and flow field patterns (laminar or turbulent) on flow and heat transfer characteristics. Different flow patterns and turbulent properties have been predicted using a pool profile close to the real one for AC and DC power supplies. The present model concludes that the casting rate and current amplitude are very effective in affecting the pool shape.