Characterization of the level fluctuations in a physical model of the steel continuous casting mold through image processing

Abstract

In this work is characterized the periodic behavior of the liquid level inside a scaled cold-model of the mold section of a steel continuous casting machine, which uses water as working fluid. The models are designed in order to simulate the dynamic forces acting on the molten steel inside a mold of continuous casting. The force magnitude can induce choppy flow, waves and vortex formation in the mold. The experimental model uses a closed-loop hydraulic configuration. In the mold, the inlet and the outlet water flow rates are the same. This configuration resembles a perfect control of the liquid level inside the water model. A high-speed video camera was used to get several video clips of the movement of the water level profile. Several techniques were tested in order to obtain the best lighting conditions for recording the water movement. The edge-detection technique of Sobel was used to determine the profile of the liquid level in each one of the images recorded. The analysis of the dynamic behavior of the water profile showed that the fluctuations of the liquid level inside the mold have a complex structure, which is repeated over large time periods.