Experimental modelling of the impact of a DC magnetic field on the melt flow in a continuous casting mould

This paper is concerned with experimental and numerical investigations focusing on the fluid flow in the continuous casting process under the influence of an external DC magnetic field. Systematic measurements of the mould flow were carried out using the eutectic alloy GaInSn inside a plexiglass model at room temperature. The jet flow discharging from the submerged entry nozzle was exposed to a level magnetic field spanning across the entire wide side of the mould. The ultrasound Doppler velocimetry (UDV) was applied to obtain a detailed experimental data base with respect to the mean values and transient properties of the velocity fields occurring in the mould. Numerical calculations were performed by means of the software package CFX with an implemented RANS-SST turbulence model. The non-isotropic nature of the MHD turbulence was taken into account by specific modifications of the turbulence model. The comparison between our numerical calculations and the experimental results displays a very well agreement. An important result of our study was the feature that a static magnetic field may give rise to non-steady, non-isotropic large-scale flow perturbations.