A water model for continuous steel casting is used to illustrate the flow conditions in a real mould of the continuous casting machine. In doing so, the geometric and hydrodynamic similarity of the two systems must be ensured. To imitate molten casting powder, silicone oil is mainly used in water models. Since oil causes contamination of the column, it is worthwhile to explore the possibility of using aqueous suspensions for this purpose. As a part of the Bachelor thesis, we adapted an existing water model and carried out the experiment. We analysed the motion of several types of suspension particles in the mould. We focused on the possibility of determining the critical entry nozzle submersion, i.e. the condition when particles permanently sink below the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) - thus mimicking the contamination of steel in a real system. The approach turned out to be promising since, based on the experience in the real system, we found the probability of the existence of risky but also safe entry nozzle submersion.
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