Abstract
Abstract
In a comparative benchmark, nine participants of the German Steel Institute VDEh working group “Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Simulation” studied the melt flow in a 16‐t single‐strand tundish. Starting with a steady‐state simulation of the melt flow, the transient flow behaviour was simulated for an idealized ladle change involving a sudden jump in temperature and concentration. In addition, the separation of non‐metallic particles to the melt surface was examined. No guidelines and limitations were made regarding the simulation strategy. The predicted flow profiles, temperature and concentration distributions coincide with each other within a good approximation. Systematic differences in the transient temperature and turbulence fields are explained by the selection of the boundary condition at the free surface. All CFD programs reproduce the fundamental flow structure with a good degree of accuracy. The separation rate for non‐metallic particles calculated on the basis of the Lagrange Method are greater than would be expected according to theory and measurement results obtained on the water model.