Numerical study of the effect of nozzle arrangement on cooling process in running hot steel strip after hot rolling

Abstract

In the steel strip manufacturing process, a high temperature steel strip at a temperature of more than 800°C is rapidly cooled by circular impinging water jets. The cooling rate is an important parameter that characterizes the desired microstructure and mechanical properties of the steel strip. In the cooling process, the nozzle arrangement of the water jet system can be easily changed as necessary and heat transfer characteristics can be controlled by adjusting the nozzle arrangement. In this study, inline and staggered nozzle arrangements are adopted. By using the numerical method developed in a previous study, cooling behaviors such as the temperature distribution of the plate surface, the cooling history of the plate, and the average heat flux are determined and compared quantitatively for each nozzle arrangement. © 2013 ISIJ.