Flow field characteristics of high-pressure and wide-coverage water spray during secondary cooling of continuous casting

In the secondary cooling stage of continuous casting, the cooling rate and uniformity of spray jets are crucial for high-speed casting. As high-pressure spray cooling technology operating at pressures greater than 1.0 MPa becomes more widely used in continuous casting, understanding its flow field characteristics is essential for improving cooling efficiency. This study combines experimental methods with Particle Image Velocimetry to analyse the velocity fields and water flux density distributions of three high-pressure, wide-coverage fan-shaped nozzles under different water pressures and jet heights. The results show that at 2.0 MPa, the maximum velocity directly beneath the nozzle is more than twice that at 0.5 MPa. Additionally, a dimensionless characterisation of the nozzle jet velocity field is proposed, along with the typical effective operating ranges of nozzles, offering theoretical guidance for optimising the flow performance of fan-shaped water nozzles.