Analysis of the Influence of Segmented Rollers on Slab Bulge Deformation

The bulge deformation of the continuous casting slab must be controlled in order to improve the slab quality. In this study, a coupled three-dimensional thermomechanical model is suggested based on dynamic contact between the slab and the rollers, so as to investigate the influence of the rollers in reducing slab bulge deformation. Moreover, the rigid casting rollers in this model are replaced by elastic casting rollers in order to improve the calculation accuracy. Further, the influence of two-segment and three-segment rollers on the slab bulge deformation is systematically studied. The results indicate that the bulge deformation of the slab increased by 74.3% when elastic casting rollers were adopted instead of rigid casting rollers. This deformation was reduced by 29.7% when three-segment rollers were used instead of two-segment rollers. Moreover, the influence of the roller spacing and the roller diameter of the segmented roller on the deformation was studied in detail. In order to achieve the purpose of controlling the bulge deformation, improved segmented roller spacing and diameter were proposed, leading to a 75.4% reduction in the bulge deformation