Cavitation dynamics in the flow control section for continuous casting of steel
Willian Hogendoorn (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
René Delfos (TU Delft - Mechanical Engineering)
Guus Tulen (Student TU Delft)
Dennis Kappert (Student TU Delft)
Stijn de Bruin (Student TU Delft)
Job van Essen (Student TU Delft)
Dirk van der Plas (Tata Steel Nederland)
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Abstract
We investigated the flow and bubble dynamics in a stopper control valve as used in continuous casting of steel under flow conditions where cavitation or quick degassing is expected to occur. We compare the flow of a typical control stopper with four archetypical stoppers. The effect of stopper geometry on cavitation dynamics is studied experimentally in a downscaled two-dimensional water model. High-speed imaging in combination with pressure data sheds light on the performance of the various stopper geometries under cavitating and non-cavitating conditions. It is found that a blunt-ended stopper shape induces, under all conditions, a strong flow separation leading to a large pressure loss coefficient, K. In return we find that the controllability of the flow improves while K changes only marginally when entering a cavitating flow regime. In contrast, more streamlined stoppers show a lower K that yet sharply increases at the onset of cavitation; possibly causing instability in valve throughput.
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