Strand straightening in the continuous casting of steel

In the continuous casting of steel, a strand with a solidified edge is produced by pouring molten steel through a water-cooled mould. The strand is curved below the mould to travel horizontally by a series of roll pairs. In this paper, the forces acting on these rolls and the stress and strain/strain rates within the steel are predicted. The mathematical model considers rigid-plastic and elastoplastic behaviour. A numerical solution procedure based on computational fluid dynamics has been adapted to solve the equations governing the material deformation. Algorithms for determining the location of the strand free surface and the contact or noncontact of rolls are described.