（1. School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering， University of Science and Technology Beijing， Beijing 100083， China 2. Electromagnetic Center， Hunan Zhongke Electric Co.， Ltd.， Yueyang 414000， Hunan， China）
Abstract：To solve these problems such as poor consistence between different strands of a 7-strand tundish with channel type induction heating， and short residence time in the 2nd and 6th strands，its configuration was optimized through water modeling. The results of isothermal experiments indicate that the flow characteristics can be improved by changing the channel design and adding two dams at each side of the tundish. Compared with the prototype structure，the average residence time is prolonged by 277.8 s， and the dead zone volume fraction is reduced by 30.16%， which is beneficial to the mixtureof steel temperature and composition， promotethe floatation of inclusions and improve the cleanness of billet.The non- isothermal experiments were performed to simulate the flow in the tundish caused by induction heating. The results indicate that natural convection in the tundish can’t be ignored. The fluid rises up obviously when it flows out from the channel， due to th eaction of buoyancy. The bigger the temperature difference is， the more consistent for different strands of the tundish. For the prototype case， the residence time of fluid is prolonged obviously when the temperature difference between inside channel and outside reaches to 5 ℃， compared with no temperature difference， and the dead zone volume is basically eliminated.
2017, Vol. 52 
