Modeling and control of resonance effects in steel casting mold oscillators

A methodology for capturing resonance in a continuous-casting mold oscillator software testbed incorporating two coupled hydraulically actuated Timoshenko beams is proposed. The mechanism of the mold motion distortion generation in the mold oscillator is clearly delineated. Nontrivial damped natural frequency and resonance frequency calculations are carried out. Then, for a finite-difference analytical beam model approximation, a discovery of monotonic dependence on spatial approximation accuracy of the beam resonance frequency under the fixed mass and of the mass under the fixed resonance frequency is demonstrated numerically. Based on these findings, a novel beam parameters selection procedure for the precise attainment of the desired resonance and damped natural frequencies by analytical and numerical models under the relevant boundary conditions and runtime constraints is developed. Using this procedure, fitting of the beam model parameters to match the actual resonance frequencies exhibited by thin and thick slab casting mold oscillators at, respectively, the Nucor Decatur and the AK Steel Dearborn steel mills, is demonstrated. The resulting resonance frequency value for the latter is then used to guide the internal-model-principle-based controller design for resonance suppression in the software testbed for the AK Steel caster mold oscillator.