A hybrid radial basis function-finite difference method for modelling two-dimensional thermo-elasto-plasticity. Part 3, Application to thermo-mechanical modelling of continuous casting of steel billets

Vuga, Gašper (author), Mavrič, Boštjan (author), Dobravec, Tadej (author), Šarler, Božidar (author)

This paper, Part 3 of a series, extends the previously developed strong-form hybrid radial basis function-finite difference (RBF-FD) method to model the thermomechanics of continuous casting (CC) of steel. Part 1 introduced the method for non-linear thermomechanics, and Part 2 applied it to the cooling of steel bars on a cooling bed. Here, a one-way coupled thermo-mechanical slice model is developed, where the temperature field provides thermal loading for the mechanical analysis. The previously introduced 2.5D formulation is adapted to include strand straightening. A visco-plastic material model, validated in our recent work, is used to describe material behaviour close to the mushy-zone temperatures. The analysis focuses on the solidified part of the strand, while the space discretisation remains constant and liquid-zone results are disregarded. Two hot-tearing criteria—temperature-based and stress-based are implemented and compared with experimental data, showing that the stress-based approach produces more realistic predictions. The influence of electromagnetic stirring, steel grade composition, and casting speed on hot-tearing susceptibility is explored. This study represents the first strong-form RBF-FD solution of CC thermomechanics, demonstrating that the hybrid RBF-FD can efficiently handle complex non-linear thermo-mechanical behaviour and allows for further process optimisation and defect mitigation in industrial CC.

• Language: English
• Keywords: continuous casting of steel, strong-form meshless numerical modelling, radial basis function generated finite differences, high temperature material modelling, travelling slice model
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 23 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 183, art. 106619
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177769
• UDC: 539.3:519.6:621.74.047
• ISSN on article: 0955-7997
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enganabound.2025.106619
• COBISS.SI-ID: 263639811
• Publication date in RUL: 07.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Engineering analysis with boundary elements
• Shortened title: Eng. anal. bound. elem.
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0955-7997
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5605380

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kontinuirano litje, jeklo, brezmrežno numerično modeliranje, končne diference, radialne bazne funkcije, visokotemperaturno modeliranje materialov, model potujoče rezine