Construction design optimization of the secondary cooling zone for continuous casting

miscellaneous

English

In steel production, special steel grades are often having increased requirements in terms of the surface quality. The fulfilment of such quality requirements can be achieved by a suitable choice of cooling intensities in individual loops of the secondary cooling zone. This preserves a final product with a minimum number of defects. The developed 3D transient solidification model BrDSM is applicable to monitor and control the evolution of temperature distribution of the cast strand. The solidification model is coupled with the fuzzy-based regulator, which controls and adjusts cooling intensities in the secondary cooling zone to maintain surface temperatures of the strand in specified temperature intervals ensuring a low occurrence of defects and a good final quality. The aim of the paper is to investigate an optimum design of the secondary cooling zone, which allows for sufficiently smooth regulation, but with regard to a minimal cost of the zone (number of pumps, valves, electronics). Therefore, the objective is to optimally split a secondary cooling zone into proper number of cooling loops. The paper presents results for an optimal number of cooling loops for a case of dynamic process fluctuations with abrupt changes of the casting speed. Results demonstrate that the proposed coupled system is an efficient tool capable for the design optimization of the secondary cooling zone.

Continuous casting, Fuzzy logic, secondary zone, design optimization, cooling loops, regulation, numerical modelling

ŠTĚTINA, J.; BŘEZINA, M.; MAUDER, T.; KLIMEŠ, L.

22. 5. 2019

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