Original Article

Research on flow field optimization and industrial application of a seven-strand billet tundish with dual nozzles

¹ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, PR China
² Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co, Ltd, Sinosteel Plaza, 8 Haidian Street, Beijing 100080, PR China
³ Handan Iron and Steel Company Hegang Group, Handan 056015, PR China

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Received: 12 January 2026
Accepted: 8 May 2026

Abstract

To improve the uniformity and purity of molten steel, a multi-physical model was used to study the influence of flow control devices on molten steel flow, heat transfer and inclusion removal in a seven-strand dual-nozzle tundish. The results show that the simulated molten steel flow and residence time distribution (RTD) curve are basically consistent with the physical simulation experiment results. After adopting the U-shaped baffle and the optimized turbulence inhibitor (TI), the average residence time reaches 248.0 s, the dead zone volume is reduced by 36.63%, the response time and residence time of the middle strand are increased by 24.0 s and 152.0 s respectively, and the standard deviation of the average residence time is reduced from 23.25 of the prototype model to 15.47 at a casting speed of 3.0 m/min. Meanwhile, the maximum temperature drop is reduced from 38.7 K to 23.7 K, and the molten steel temperature difference between each strand is reduced from 4.5 K to 1.1 K, a decrease of 75%. The removal rate of inclusions with diameter of 100 μm is about 95%, and the consistency between each strand is obviously enhanced.