Liquid Steel at Low Pressure: Experimental Investigation of a Downward Water Air Flow

In the continuous casting of steel controlling the steel flow rate to the mould is critical because a well-defined flow field at the mould level is essential for a good quality of the cast product. The stopper rod is a commonly used device to control this flow rate. Agglomeration of solid material near the stopper rod can lead to a reduced cross section and thus to a decreased casting speed or even total blockage ("clogging"). The mechanisms causing clogging are still not fully understood. Single phase considerations of the flow in the region of the stopper rod result in a low or even negative pressure at the smallest cross section. This can cause degassing of dissolved gases from the melt, evaporation of alloys and entrainment of air through the porous refractory material. It can be shown that the degassing process in liquid steel is taking place mainly at the stopper rod tip and its surrounding. The steel flow around the stopper rod tip is highly turbulent. In addition refractory material has a low wettability to liquid steel. So the first step to understand the flow situation and transport phenomena which occur near the stopper is to understand the behaviour of this two phase (steel, gas) flow. To simulate the flow situation near the stopper rod tip, water experiments are conducted using a convergent divergent nozzle with three different wall materials and three different contact angles respectively. These experiments show the high impact of the wettability of the wall material on the actual flow structure at a constant gas flow rate. (paper)