Open Access Conference Proceedings

This study is focused on the numerical analysis of molten steel flow in the CC mold of a continuous casting machine for two different steel grades - ferritic low-carbon stainless steel 409L and normalized structural steel S275N, by EN 10025-3. The aim was to identify the influence of the physical and metallurgical properties of these steels on flow behavior and thermal conditions in the solidification zone. Simulations were realised using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) at two different casting speeds.Velocity profiles and temperature gradients were analyzed along two reference lines: one positioned at the steel surface and the other along the vertical sidewall of the mold. Based on the temperature gradient, the position of the start of solidification of the casting was determined for steel and process configuration. The results revealed significant differences in hydrodynamic behavior and heat transfer characteristics between the two steel grades, which manifested in variations in the length of the liquid zone and the formation of the primary solid shell. Ferritic stainless steel 409L has higher fluidity and a faster solidification process, whereas S275N showed slower heat dissipation and lower turbulent kinetic energy.The findings provide a foundation for optimizing the technological parameters of continuous casting processes with regard to the specific behavior of different steel grades.

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