International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials

Volume 17, Number 4, August 2010, Page 403

DOI: 10.1007/s12613-010-0333-5

Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

A. Ramrez-Lpez1,2,3), R. Aguilar-Lpez1), M. Palomar-Pardav1), M.A. Romero-Romo1),
and D. Muoz-Negrn2)
1) Department of Materials, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico City C.P. 02200, Mxico
2) Institute Polytechnic National, Mexico City C.P. 07300, Mxico
3) Institute Technologic Autonomous of Mexico, Mexico City C.P. 01080, Mxico
(Received: 30 June 2009; revised: 25 July 2009; accepted: 6 August 2009)

Abstract: This work is focused on the development of computational algorithms to create a simulator for solving the heat transfer during the
continuous casting process of steel. The temperatures and the solid shell thickness profiles were calculated and displayed on the screen for a
billet through a defined continuous casting plant (CCP). The algorithms developed to calculate billet temperatures, involve the solutions of
the corresponding equations for the heat removal conditions such as radiation, forced convection, and conduction according to the billet position through the CCP. This is done by a simultaneous comparison with the kinematics model previously developed. A finite difference
method known as Crank-Nicholson is applied to solve the two-dimensional computational array (2D model). Enthalpy (HI,J) and temperature
(TI,J) in every node are updated at each step time. The routines to display the results have been developed using a graphical user interface
(GUI) in the programming language C++. Finally, the results obtained are compared with those of industrial trials for the surface temperature
of three steel casters with different plant configurations in different casting conditions.
Keywords: continuous casting; heat transfer; heat removal; simulation; numerical methods

1. Introduction
The development of computational models for describing
the thermal behavior of steels during processing is very important to control and improve the quality of steel products
such as billets, blooms, and slabs. Many authors [1-9] have
been working on the development of mathematical models
and programming routines and algorithms to predict it. Unfortunately, the storing capacity, the processing data speed,
and memory for management in computer equipment were
limited [1-9]. In consequence some of them used empirical
correlations of experimental temperatures or semi-empirical
equations supported on experimental results [1-5], which
were frequently used to represent heat flux. Shell thickness
and solidification profiles were calculated using basic principles or approached with parabolic equations. Nevertheless,
these equations cannot be used to predict the results outside
the experimental ranges. Nowadays, the computational capacities of computer equipment have been improved, and it
has become a powerful tool to solve complex problems. In
Corresponding author: A. Ramrez-Lpez

the same way, numerical methods and computational algorithms have been improved and developed to create new and
more efficient engineering software.
The steel thermal behavior during processing depends on
two kinds of parameters: physical parameters and operating
conditions. The physical parameters include the steel grade
(composition) and geometry of the continuous casting plant
(CCP) etc. These variables are different for each steel caster.
The operating conditions are always variable including
casting speed and specific cooling conditions in the mold
and secondary cooling system (SCS). These can be different
from an initial casting operation to the next. Furthermore,
these conditions do not remain constant. Fluctuations of
water temperature and casting speed, and problems during
processing are always presented.
The primary and secondary cooling systems (PCS and
SCS) have a strong influence on solidification. It is necessary to define the geometrical and operating parameters
such as the mold size, the segments, the sprays in each seg-

E-mail: adaramil@yahoo.com.mx

University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

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Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

ment, the shooting angles of sprays and the billet-spray distance, and the operating conditions such as the spray water
flow rates and the water temperature, to describe the steel
thermal behavior accurately.

this work. Nevertheless, the routine for displaying the results

permits the user to select any other ending points such as the
point where the cutter is placed or the point where the billet
is carried out of the CCP.

The routines to read the information required for simulation were previously developed and presented by the authors
[10]. The geometrical information is employed to create a
graphical sketch of the CCP and the operating conditions are
used to calculate the particular heat fluxes on each segment
for each billet face. Recently, some other authors [11-19]
have been using engineering softwares to simulate the thermal behavior of steel and other metallic materials. These are
powerful tools for the calculation process; nevertheless, it is
very complicated for a user to define all the heat removal
mechanisms involved at every moment for a casting operation. Hence, this work was focused on developing efficient
computational algorithms to calculate the steel thermal behavior through the continuous casting process.

The steel volume is divided in elements for discretization

as shown in Fig. 2. Each 3D element is represented using a
node in a mesh for a 2D model during the calculation process. The element dimensions (x) and (y) are calculated as
a function of the billet dimensions (dx) and (dy) and the
nodes (nx) and (ny) employed. All the nodes represent the
same steel volume discretized. The value of the dimension
in the cast direction (z) is calculated in agreement with the
stability criterion and the corresponding casting speed on the
strand. These elements are placed in a 2D computational array. Here, they are numbered from the corner of the external
and left billet faces to the corner of the internal and right
billet faces. The representing nodes of the billet faces are
shown in Table 1, where the values of the array position are
given by the subindexes I and J. The corresponding positions for each node used to discretize the steel billet are illustrated in Fig. 3.

2. Mathematical model
2.1. Discretization of the steel
The solution developed in this paper assumes a
two-dimensional model for a billet section, in which the
casting direction is perpendicular to the frontal billet face.
The heat removal in this direction is neglected. Here, a
volume of the billet cross section is taken as the calculation
domain as shown in Fig. 1. The steel volume is placed in the
x and y axis, and will be displaced on z from the meniscus
level (starting point) through the CCP. Because of the importance of heat removal, the ending point for displacement
is the end of the curved zone for the simulations shown in

The thermo-physical properties of carbon steels are obtained from Tables 2 and 3 [20], these expressions allow the
calculation of the specific heat capacity (cp) and thermal
conductivity (k) as a function of temperature and steel composition.
These values are used to calculate and assign the corresponding energy value (HI,J) to each node for the casting
steel temperature, although thermo-physical properties are
also a function of the transformation temperatures indicated

Fig. 2. Discretization of the steel.

Table 1. Array position of the billet faces
Billet face

To

nx

Internal

ny

nx

ny

Left

ny

Right

nx

nx

ny

External

Fig. 1. Volume of the steel considered for simulation.

From

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

405

For the steel with [%C]<0.09: cpL=7942, kT=36.94

(2)

T TSol
k EF = k T 1 + 6

TLiq TSol

(3)

TLiq=153788[%C]25[%S]5[%Cu]8[%Si] 5[%Mn]
2[%Mo] 4[%Ni] 1.5[%Cr] 18[%Ti] 2[%V]30[%P]
(4)
TSol=1535200[%C] 12.3[%Si] 6.8[%Mn] 124.5[%P]
183.9[%S] 4.3[%Ni] 1.4[%Cr]4.1[%Al]
(5)
TAR1=72310.7[%Mn] 16.9[%Ni]+29.1[%Si]+16.9[%Cr]+
290[%As]+6.38[%W]
(6)
TAR3=910203[%C] 15.2[%Ni]+44.7[%Si]+104[%V]+
31.5[%Mo]+13.1[%W] {30[%Mn]+11[%Cr]+
20[%Cu]700[%P]400[%Al]120[%As]400[%Ti]} (7)
The simulation begins at the meniscus level. Here, each
node is with the same value of energy HI,J, which is calculated as a function of the casting temperature shown in Eq.
(8) [2, 8-9].

Fig. 3. Representation for a 2D model.

Table 2. Specific heat capacity of carbon steel [20]
Temperature
range

Specific heat capacity / (Jkg1K1)

cp =a+bT

T<TAR1

a = 78.7279.1[%C], b= (0.0430.055[%C])

H =q=

TAR1<T<TAR3 a = 39.90+180.64[%C], b= 9.39103+0.183[%C])

TAR3<T<TSol a = 13.23.98[%C], b= 11.73103+2.59104[%C]
TSol<T<TLiq

cpL

T>TLiq

7482

Temperature
range

Thermal conductivity / (Wm1K1)

k=a+bT

T<TAR1

a = 280250[%C], b = 0.514497[%C]

TAR1<T<TAR3

a =1463+4221[%C], b = (0.418+3.958[%C])

TAR3<T<TSol

a = 627476[%C], b = 0.0234+0.3344[%C]

TSol<T<TLiq

kEF

T>TLiq

2473.241.211T

Wc p dT +

T =Tliq

Wc p dT +

T =TAR3

Wc p dT +

T =TAR1

T =Tsol

Wc p dT +

T =TAR3

T =Tco

(8)

Wc p dT

T =Tliq

Here W is the weight of each steel volume discretized and

Tco the casting temperature. During the simulation of the
casting a new value for the variables involved (H, q, T, k, ,
and cp) will be recalculated for each node at each step according to the results of the latest iteration and updated to be
used at the next step (t+t). In the first term of the integral
T0 is frequently assumed as equal to the ambient temperature
(TAmb).
2.2. Assumptions and boundary conditions

in Tables 2 and 3. Here, variables CpL and kT are obtained

according to the steel composition and [%C] by Eqs. (1) and
(2), and the value of the thermal conductivity of the steel for
mushy zone (kEF) is obtained using Eq. (3) [20]. The temperature relation is also used to calculate the fractions of the
liquid and the solid steel. Furthermore, according to the steel
composition their corresponding temperatures (TLiq, TSol,
TAR1, and TAR3) are also calculated using Eqs. (4)-(7) [2,
8-9].
For the steel with [%C]>0.09: cpL=7858, kT=33.58

T =T0

T =Tsol

Table 3. Thermal conductivity of carbon steel [20]

T =TAR1

(1)

(1) Only one single volume of steel is used for calculation.

(2) The solidification front is flat with respect to the adjacent liquid in the steel volume.
(3) The meniscus surface is flat.
(4) Effects of mold oscillation, segregation, and bending
have been ignored.
(5) The elements for discretization of the steel are equal
(squared mesh).

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Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

2.3. Heat removal in the mold

Once the initial assumptions and boundary conditions for
discretization have been defined, the next step is to create
the mathematical algorithms and the computational routines
for solving the heat removal conditions during processing.
Liquid steel is cast from the ladle to the tundish where it is
distributed towards the strands. Inside the copper mould
steel adopts the form and dimensions of the section. The
steel displacement begins at the meniscus level. The main
function of the mould is to form a solid shell strong enough
to support the liquid steel inside the core entering into the
SCS.
The calculation of heat removal in the mold is a very
complex problem due to the combination of heat transfer
mechanisms involved, which requires a complicated analysis. This is the reason why many authors prefer using a general equation for calculation purposes. Here, the heat flux is
calculated using Eq. (9) as a function of the dwell time, in
which the values of coefficients Ao and Bo have been calculated for CCPs by some authors [1-5, 7-9, 13-16, 21-22].

The best fit to approach the billet surface temperature was

obtained by Savage and Pritchard [23] using the following
coefficients Ao=2680 and Bo=335, which are used in the
present algorithm.
q = Ao + Bo t dwell

(9)

2.4. Heat removal in the SCS

Many authors [1-5, 8-9] have been working to develop
equations or values for describing heat flux (q) as a function
of heat transfer coefficient (h) in the SCS. The surface temperature graphics obtained from an interpolation method are
good for describing the global behavior; unfortunately these
do not represent the real behavior of the billet surface anywhere in the SCS. The billet surface loses energy during
processing as a consequence of the heat removal mechanisms involved. The surface temperature is decreased when
the steel is under the water flow of a spray, but it is increased when the steel is out of the water flow; the surface
temperature is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Behavior of the surface temperature in the secondary cooling system (SCS).

This article uses the term billet faces although they are
also called billet surfaces or billet sides by some other authors [1-5, 9, 22]. These authors are referring to the steel
billet lateral faces. In this article, the term sprayed areas is
also used for referring to the billet surface under the water
flow of the sprays, although these are also called watering
areas, or moisten areas by other authors [1-5, 9, 22].
In the present work, Eqs. (10)-(12) are used to calculate

the geometrical parameters needed for the CCP such as the

length of each segment, the distance between the sprays (ds),
the length of the sprayed areas (dw), and the interstitial space
between them (dnw) in order to get a better approach of the
steel behavior. Here, dbs is the distance between the spray
and the billet surface as shown in Fig. 4. Here, sn is the
segment where the steel volume is at every moment during
simulation and the subscripts ZN are used for referring to
each spray segment.

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

d s ZN =

ZN rc

180 sn ZN

(10)

d w ZN = 2 d bs tan
2

(11)

d nw ZN = d s ZN d w ZN

(12)

The heat removal coefficient (h) is calculated as a function of the water flow intensity calculating the Reynolds,
Prandtl and Nusselt numbers, which are obtained according
to Eqs. (13)-(16) [24-25]. In Eq. (13), v2 is the water flow
speed when the water gets in contact with the billet surface.
This speed is calculated using Eq. (14) as a function of the
sprayed area (A2) which is the region where the conditions
of forced convection will be applied. Moreover, in this
equation Al and v1 are the area and spraying speed of the
water flow in the nozzle, respectively, and is the viscosity
of the water.
Re =

d w ZN v 2 W

(13)

v A
v2 = 1 1
A2

(14)

The model assumes that v2 is constant along the sprayed

area in the billet surface, consequently the water flow distribution on the billet surface is homogeneous and without
fluctuations. Therefore, the heat flux on the billet surfaces is
removed constantly.
The water properties are employed to calculate the
Prandtl number using Eq. (15) [24]. Then the Nusselt number is calculated using Eq. (16). Here, the values of coefficients c and n are taken in agreement with the water flow
rate from Table 4 [24].
c p
Pr =
k
Nu = cRe n Pr 1/3

(15)
(16)

Table 4. Coefficients c and n used to obtain the Nusselt number

Re

0.4-4

0.989

0.330

4-40

0.911

0.385

40-4000

0.683

0.466

4000-40000

0.193

0.618

40000-400000

0.0266

0.805

407

Finally, the heat transfer coefficient (h) and the heat flux
(q) for every billet face of each segment are calculated using
Eqs. (17) and (18) [24], respectively. These values are used
to get the new values of temperatures TI,J on the billet surface as a function of the enthalpy HI,J [24-25] obtained using
Eq. (19).
Nuk
D2

h=

(17)

q = h(T I ,J TW )

(18)

H It +,J1 = H It ,J ( z t ) {q [ x ] + k I ,J (T I 1,J 1 T I ,J )}

(19)

During processing, different conditions can be used for

quenching each billet face. Because of this, the model was
programmed to calculate different values of Re, Pr, Nu, v1,
v2, etc. for each segment of the SCS and for each billet face.
The consequence of the application of different heat removal fluxes for each face will be non-symmetrical temperature profiles.
2.5. Heat flux in the billet core
In the billet core, the heat flux is redistributed only by
conduction. Eq. (20) is a partial differential equation that
represents the heat flux as a function of the steel properties;
this equation is solved for a 3D model. Nevertheless, the
third term on the left is eliminated because the heat removal
on the frontal face is neglected. The result is an equation for
a 2D model to be solved for every time step (t). The values
of enthalpy (HI,J) and temperatures for each node (TI,J) are
calculated using a finite difference method known as the
Crank-Nicholson rule [26]. This solution for the unsteady
state conduction equation can be included in an algorithm
using a pair of nested loops to solve Eq. (21).
T
k
x x
1

( x )
=

T
+ k
y y

T
+ k
z z

(TI 1,J + TI +1,J 2T I ,J ) +

1 T It,+J1 T It, J
t
I ,J

+ q = c p
t

( y ) 2

(20)

(T I ,J 1 + TI , J +1 2TI , J )
(21)

An appropriated stability criterion to calculate the correct

time step (t) is obtained as a function of the thermal diffusivity () and the size of the discretization nodes (x and y)
used according to Eqs. (22) and (23) [22, 24], respectively.

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=
t =

Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

c p
xy
4

(22)

(23)

2.6. Radiation
The heat flux in the billet surfaces is removed by radiation when the volume of steel is in the free zone or under a
non-sprayed area in the SCS. Here, the algorithm uses the
Stephan-Boltzmann equation [22, 24-25] to calculate the
heat flux and enthalpy values:
4
q = (T I4, J TAmb
)

(24)

In the SCS, the exact thermal behavior in non-sprayed

areas is very difficult to simulate because there are many
factors involved such as the water accumulation on the rolls
and foil contact with the billet. However, it is clear that the
heat transfer coefficients in the non-sprayed areas will be
considerably less than those in sprayed areas. This is the
reason why they are considered as not significant by many
authors [1-5, 11, 7-9, 14-16, 19, 21-22].

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Programming and simulation
The algorithm for kinematics [10] and thermal algorithm
developed participate simultaneously in the calculation
process. They are used to identify what equations and operating conditions must be used to determine the billet thermal
behavior according to the billet position through the CCP at
each time step. Fig. 5 displays the flowchart for the calculation procedure. Here, the entire procedure is commanded by
the main loop (time loop), which uses the calculation routine
included in the kinematics model to obtain the displacement
of the steel through each strand according to the corresponding casting speed. Then an identification subroutine is
used to determine the corresponding heat removal mechanism for the current position, so that the equations and procedure employed for the calculation of the external nodes
are solved. After this, the values of enthalpy and temperature for the internal nodes are calculated using the conduction equation. Finally, the new values are stored in a 2D
computational array employed for updating, and the animation of the results are displayed on the screen. The time loop
(main loop) will repeat in all the process until the billet running distance (Z) is the same as the distance selected by the
user (D). Then the simulation will be finished.

Fig. 5. Flowchart of the calculation and display processes.

Fig. 6 shows a detailed explanation of the subroutine for

the identification of the operating conditions. This procedure
begins when the data of the billet displacement is taken from
the kinematics subroutine and is compared with the defined
geometry information of the CCP. Initially, the zone where
the volume of steel is actually placed will be identified. The
identification is done by comparison using the sentence if
when the first comparison is true the steel is in the mold.
When the displacement is greater than the mold length but
less than the curved zone the steel is placed in the SCS. Here,
a nested procedure is employed because it is necessary to
know the segment where the billet is placed for each segment has defined dimensions and operating conditions.

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

Fig. 6. Flowchart of the subroutine that identifies and solves

the steel conditions for the billet surface.

409

Then this subroutine checks if the billet is under a sprayed

or a non-sprayed area. Finally, the subroutine calculates the
values of the heat flux (qI,J), enthalpy (HI,J), and temperature
(TI,J) for every node of the billet surfaces. A 4D array [27] is
used to store and identify the heat removal conditions and
mechanism in the SCS. These are compared using the sentence if with the displacement to apply the correct operating conditions. The array used is SCS [nz] [ns] [nf] [da].
Here, nz refers to the segment in the SCS, ns is the spray in
the corresponding segment in the casting direction, nf is
used to identify the billet surface (internal, external, left or
right face). ns is very important to declare no symmetrical
heat removal conditions or non-symmetrical spray configurations for a CCP. The number da is the corresponding data
for each spray segment and face which represent that all the
independent and dependent variables are stored such as
shooting angle (), the lengths (dnw, dw, ds, etc.), the Reynolds, Prandtl and Nusselt numbers, and the corresponding
heat coefficients (h) and heat fluxes (q) are also stored here.
The process for solving the external nodes according to the
corresponding heat removal conditions is shown in Fig. 7.
The process is a group of four loops that calculate the energy and temperature in each node resulting from the corresponding heat removal (q). Each loop corresponds to a face
of the billet (internal and external left or right) which is
identified using a numerical code (1-4) placed in the initial
defined data. The algorithm assumes an automatic equidistant distribution of the sprays and the same heat removal
capacity for each spray of the segment, although the effect is
not identical over the billet surface temperature whether
different operating conditions are defined over each face.

Fig. 7. Flowchart for solving external nodes of a squared billet.

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Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

A subroutine for animation is included in Fig. 5. This

subroutine displays the thermal and solidification profiles
corresponding to the calculation on the screen. A part of the
animation is the displaying of the solidification profile
which is shown in Fig. 8. Here two nested loops compare all
the temperature values obtained after the calculation to represent the evolution of the solidification. The process compares the temperature values (TI,J) with the liquid and solid

Fig. 8. Flowchart for displaying the solidification profile on

the screen.

temperatures (Tliq and Tsol). Then a pixel is put on the screen

coordinates with the assigned color to identify the steel state.
A very similar process used to define the temperature ranges
is executed to display a temperature profile.
3.2. Validation
A digital pyrometer was used to measure the billet surface temperature carried out of three different CCPs for
validation. These values were compared with those predicted values obtained using the simulator developed. The
geometries of the plants are shown in Fig. 9. Tables 5 and 6
show the general information for the CCPs and the operating conditions for each segment of the SCSs during each
case analyzed. Here o is the angle where the mold ends and
the first segment on the SCS is placed. Identical operating
conditions for each billet face were assumed. Temperatures
(TARl, TAR3, TLiq, and TSo1) for the cast steels are shown in
Table 7. They were obtained as a function of the steel composition shown in Table 8. In Fig. 10 the shell thickness
evolution is illustrated for a node in the position (I=nx/2, J=1).
The shell thickness is measured from the billet surface to the
core. In concordance with these figures, thin billets need
shorter distances and shorter times for total solidification
than thick billets. Thin billets also require less water flow
rates for quenching. The solidification profiles are shown
using a color code (red for solid, magenta for mushy, and
yellow for liquid) to evidence the steel temperature. The
surface temperature is plotted from the meniscus level along
the cast direction for every case. The horizontal scales in
these figures show the billet displacement in meters and the
corresponding angular position in the curved zone (in the
lower scale from 0 to 90); the color bars show the length
of each of the segment.

Fig. 9. Sketches of three CCPs for the analyzed cases: (a) case 1; (b) case 2; (c) case 3.

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

411

Table 5. Casting conditions

Company

Case

Casting speed / (mmin1)

Casting temperature / C

0 / ()

rc / m

dx / mm

dy / mm

DeAcero

2.50

1500

9.0

160

160

Sidertul

2.40

1530

5.0

130

130

Sicartsa

2.35

1527

5.5

127

127

Table 6. Operating conditions of the SCS

Case

Segment

Water flow rate / (Lmin1)

Spray number

dbs / mm

195

60

160

265

12.6

60

160

215

16

60

160

208

16

60

160

172

10

20

55

150

150

10

20

55

150

109

7.5

80

60

210

11

22.5

60

110

142

30

60

75

Table 7. Temperatures of the cast steels

Case

T / C

TLiq

1499.14

1522.01

1520.81

TSol

1451.23

1508.20

1499.85

TAR3

783.04

847.22

833.07

TAR1

721.03

721.04

721.04

Table 8. Composition of the cast steel

wt%

Case

Al

Cr

Cu

Mn

Nb

Mo

Ni

Ti

Si

Sn

0.380

0.003

0.005

0.040

1.050

0.002

0.002

0.006

0.014

0.002

0.018

0.200

0.001

0.002

0.085

0.005

0.009

0.025

0.420

0.001

0.001

0.002

0.016

0.009

0.007

0.130

0.001

0.000

0.140

0.004

0.017

0.037

0.610

0.001

0.001

0.003

0.011

0.004

0.006

0.170

0.001

0.001

In case 1 a critical condition was simulated as shown in

Table 5, this billet is robust and the meniscus level is minimum, and the casting speed is high, in consequence the
dwell time in the mold is short and the heat removal is
hardly enough to avoid breakouts in the first segment of the
SCS. Due to this, the shell thickness begins to be formed on
delaying.
In these figures a very different thermal behavior on the
surface temperature is appreciated as a consequence of the
operating conditions and CCP geometry. In Fig. 10(a) the
reheating is very strong at the exit of the mold. Nevertheless,
the water flow intensity in the first segment is strong enough
to decrease the surface temperature. In Fig. 10(b) the distance between the sprayed areas is the shortest; in concordance the reheating in non-sprayed areas is limited. In Fig.

10(c) the influence of the water flow intensity and the spray
distribution on each segment over the surface temperature is
appreciated showing a different behavior on each segment.
Heat removal in the billet surface is less intense in the
non-sprayed areas and the surface temperature is increased.
This phenomenon is called surface reheating, which is a
critical factor for avoiding breakout and improving steel
quality in the first segment of the SCS, because the shell
thickness is very thin at the exit of the mold. The temperatures measured with the pyrometer were compared with
those calculated using the simulator developed. Here, a pair
of curved lines (upper and lower chords) for each segment
of the SCS can be traced knowing all of the changing points
(points where heat removal changes from forced convection
towards radiation and vice versa) as shown in the close up of

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Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

Fig. 10. Thermal behavior and comparison between the simulated and the measured surface temperatures: (a) case 1; (b) case 2;
(c) case 3.

Fig. 11. The region between these two curves is assumed as

a temperature safety range. This is an inversed process in
comparison with other mathematical models [1-9, 11-19,
21-23, 28]. The mean chord shown in Fig. 12 is calculated as
a function of the average values between the upper and lower
temperature chords. The mean chord is used as a parameter
of the global behavior of the billet surface in each segment.

The simulator stores the temperatures calculated at any

time step to show the thermal evolution of the steel shown in
Fig. 13. Here, frontal views of the temperature profiles of
the billet face for case 1 under the same defined operating
conditions are displayed. These profiles were taken from a
simulation through the curved zone to evaluate the steel
thermal behavior for different casting speeds. Each profile
shows the corresponding time and distance. Here, some
common thermal phenomena involved in the CCP such as
the corner effect and reheating surface are easily identified.
The mean chord tends to decrease for the surface temperature after the billet has been driven under many segments in the SCS due to the heat removal caused by water in
the sprayed areas, whereas the difference between the lower
and upper chords tends to be shorter. This phenomenon is

Fig. 11. Comparison of measured and simulated surface

temperatures.

Fig. 12. Upper, lower and mean chords.

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting

413

Fig. 13. Billet frontal face (perpendicular views to the casting direction) in operating conditions of case 1 for different casting
speeds: (a) 2.00 m/min; (b) 2.10 m/min; (c) 2.20 m/min; (d) 2.30 m/min.

due to the heat flux flowing from the core towards the billet
surfaces as shown in the close up of Figs. 10(a) and 11 and
the temperature profiles of Fig. 13.
A comparison between the surface temperature measured
and the simulated values is shown in Table 9. 35 values
were measured using a digital pyrometer in each case (at
different casting speeds). These values were taken from the
SCS as shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The values in the safety
zone correspond to the values in the range of the lower and
upper chords calculated. The value outside the safety zone
is 24, which corresponds to 10.60% of the total values

measured; the average of the maximum difference between

the values measured is 17.833C. Finally, the influence of
the casting speed using the operating conditions of case 3 on
the surface temperature is shown in Fig. 14. Here, the surface temperature decreases for low casting speeds due to the
increment of the time under heat removal mechanisms.

Table 9. Comparison of surface temperatures (case 1)

Casting
speed /
(mmin1)

Measures in
the safety
zone

Measures out
the safety zone

Maximum
difference /
C

2.00

32

15

2.10

30

27

2.20

31

12

2.30

27

14

2.40

33

18

2.50

31

21

Fig. 14. Influence of casting speed on surface temperature.

414

3.3. Differences with other mathematical models

Some differences between the results of the simulator
developed in the present work and models developed by
other authors [1-6, 8-9, 13-16, 21, 28] are described as follows.
Some authors [1-5, 8-9] have been trying to simulate the
heat removal in the SCS using equations for the heat transfer
coefficient. Nevertheless, it is clear that an overall equation
cannot accurately predict the thermal behavior in the SCS. A
better approach was tried by other authors [6, 21, 28] calculating individual regressions for each segment. Other authors [13-14] moved the surface temperature obtained from
their equations to the maximum and minimum temperature
values measured to create a safety zone. Nevertheless, these
considerations limit these models to certain conditions.
One of the first works for describing the heat transfer in
the SCS in a better detail was presented by Hibbins [6] who
was a pioneer in showing the different behaviors of the billet
surface temperature in the sprayed and non-sprayed areas of
the SCS. Unfortunately, the capacity for computational
processing data was limited in the early 1980s to permit a
detailed analysis.
In the present work, steel thermal behavior in the SCS is
not obtained using an equation. Here, a routine identifies the
billet position by comparison with the billet displacement
calculated using the kinematics model. Based on this, the
heat removal is calculated for the billet under a sprayed or a
non-sprayed area. Within the sprayed area the surface temperature decreases constantly until a minimum point at the
end of the sprayed area. In the non-sprayed area the surface
temperature increases until a maximum point at the end of
the non-sprayed area.
3.4. Simulations and real processing
There are differences between the simulated and real
values because during real processing the operating conditions are not constant as explained next.
Casting speed is always fluctuating due to the variation in
the steel liquid level and the nozzle conditions that drive
steel from the tundish towards the mold. In consequence the
dwell time inside the mold, the meniscus level and the dwell
time of the steel under sprayed areas in the SCS will not be
constants.
Water supply in the segments of the SCS is not constant.
Boiling heat transfer mechanism is ignored in the model.
This fact modifies the heat removal capacity of the water.

Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., Vol.17, No.4, Aug 2010

Problems of bending or plugging of the spray nozzles can

appear.
The algorithm used assumes the water jets are invariables
and formed only of water. In a real operation, the jet is made
of droplets with air in between and the sprayed areas are not
constant; therefore, the difference between the lower and
upper chords is bigger for the simulator.

4. Conclusions
(1) The kinematics and thermal models can work simultaneously (interchanging and storing information) to describe the steel thermal behavior during processing efficiently. A very good approach is observed in the comparison
of the surface temperatures obtained using the simulator developed with the measured for the three cases analyzed.
Therefore, the simulator developed can be used to predict
the steel thermal behavior for any other CCP in particular
operating conditions.
(2) The development of software for an industrial application has many advantages to simulate industrial processes
because it is possible to predict safety conditions for working and the users can save a lot of time by obtaining quick
responses with more efficient software tools.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM-AZC), Institute Technologic and
Autonomous de Mxico (ITAM) and Institute Polytechnic
National (IPN).

Nomenclature
cp: Specific heat capacity, J/(kgK);
dnw: Non-sprayed area, m;
ds: Distance between sprays, m;
dw: Length of the sprayed area, m;
dx: Dimension of the billet in x direction, m;
dy: Dimension of the billet in y direction, m;
k: Thermal conductivity, W/(mK);
h: Heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2K);
H: Enthalpy, J/kg;
nx: Nodes in x direction;

A. Ramrez-Lpez et al., Simulation of heat transfer in steel billets during continuous casting
Int., 34(1994), No.7, p.584.

ny: Nodes in y direction;

Nu: Nusselt number;

[5]

in continuous casting of steel, Steel Res., 66(1995), No.5,

q: Heat flux, J;

p.199.
[6]

tation], University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1982,

t: Time, s;

p.20.
[7]
[8]

two-dimensional, transient heat conduction problems, Metall.

: Emissivity of steel (0.8);

: Stephan Boltzmann constant (5.67108), W/(m2K4);
: Angle of a segment in SCS, ();
: Spray shooting angle, ().

Sub indexes
I: Node position in x direction;
J: Node position in y direction;
Liq: Liquid;
Sol: Solid;
w: Water;
ZN: Segment in SCS;
SN: Spray in segment.

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