FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THERMO-MECHANICAL COUPLED SOLIDIFICATION PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS CASTING SLAB IN MOLD

A two-dimensional thermo-mechanical coupled finite element model is established to analyze the solidification process of continuous casting slabs in mold and the stress and strain distributions in the solidified shells. The transient heat conduction and thermal elasto-plastic contact problems are studied in the coupled analysis. The solidification processes of Q235 steel in continuous casting molds with three different tapers, in three tension speeds and three powder schemes are numerically simulated. The distributions of temperature, thickness, deformation and stresses of the solidified shells as well as the gaps between the shells and the molds are also obtained. It is concluded that the effect of mold taper on the results is slight, and the effects of tension speed and powder scheme with different thermal resistance are significant.