Investigations of Liquid Steel Viscosity and Its Impact as the Initial Parameter on Modeling of the Steel Flow through the Tundish

The paper presents research carried out to experimentally determine the dynamic viscosity of selected iron solutions. A high temperature rheometer with an air bearing was used for the tests, and ANSYS Fluent commercial software was used for numerical simulations. The experimental results obtained are, on average, lower by half than the values of the dynamic viscosity coefficient of liquid steel adopted during fluid flow modeling. Numerical simulations were carried out, taking into account the viscosity standard adopted for most numerical calculations and the average value of the obtained experimental dynamic viscosity of the analyzed iron solutions. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis showed differences in the flow structure of liquid steel in the tundish, in particular in the predicted values and the velocity profile distribution. However, these differences are not significant. In addition, the work analyzed two different rheological models—including one of our own—to describe the dynamic viscosity of liquid steel, so that in the future, the experimental stage could be replaced by calculating the value of the dynamic viscosity coefficient of liquid steel using one equation. The results obtained support the use of the author’s rheological model for the above; however, this model still needs to be refined and extended to a wide range of alloying elements, mainly the extension of the carbon range.