High Fidelity Computational Investigations of Multiphysics Phenomena in Continuous Steel Casting

Brian Thomas, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Usage Details

This project aims to develop and apply high-fidelity multiphysics models of steel continuous casting to gain new insights into this important process used to manufacture over 96% of steel in the world. Various Finite Volume computational fluid dynamics models and Finite Element thermo-mechanical models will be developed to simulate transient turbulent multiphase fluid flow, particle transport and capture, heat transfer, solidification, magnetohydrodynamics, and thermal-mechanical behavior in this very complex commercial process. Multiphysics coupling of the models will exploit Blue Waters for great parallel scalability and high-resolution computation to address the coupled interactions between these many phenomena with wide ranging (micrometer-meter) length scales and wide ranging (millisecond-minutes) time scales in realistic domain geometries. The models will be validated with plant measurements that have been made available to this project, to achieve realistic predictions of defects such as nozzle clogging, uneven initial solidification, surface level fluctuations, particle capture, depression and crack formation, and to find safe operating windows of the adjustable casting conditions and process design variables for better final-product quality, which will greatly benefit the U.S steel industry and related companies.