Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field and Inclusion Entrapment in Ultrawide Slab Continuous Casting Mold Combined with High‐Temperature Velocity Quantitative Measurement

The current work combines the numerical simulation of the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model with the high‐temperature surface velocity quantitative measurement methods, to study the flow field within three ultrawide molds with thickness of 150 mm and widths of 2400, 2800, and 3200 mm, as well as their effects on the motion trajectories of nonmetallic inclusions. It is demonstrated that the largest molten steel flow velocity in the ultrawide mold occurs at 1/6 width from the narrow edge at the top surface. The maximum flow velocity of the molten steel decreases with increasing the mold width, and the simulation results are well consistent with the measurement results at high temperature. In ultrawide molds, the upward circulating flow velocity firstly increases and then decreases as the width increases. The stronger the upper roll flow in the flow field, the higher the removal ratio of inclusions at the steel/slag interface. The removal ratios of inclusions with a diameter of 400 μm are 55, 35, and 29% for the molds with widths of 2800, 3200, and 2400 mm, respectively. Therefore, under the present experimental conditions, the mold with a width of 2800 mm exhibits the optimal inclusion removal performance.