The task of the tundish is to supply and distribute the molten steel with the similar temperature and the similar inclusion mass concentration to the continuous casting mold. But it is difficult for the asymmetric tundish to accomplish this task. Thus, the scheme about the asymmetric turbulence inhibitor and the baffle wall with guided holes is proposed to optimize the tundish. In order to have a deep insight into the metallurgical behavior in the asymmetric tundish, numerical simulation is applied to describe the fluid flow, the heat transfer, RTD (residence time distribution) curve, and inclusion collision aggregation behavior. Numerical results show that the predicted temperature and inclusion concentration agree with the industrial experimental data. In the asymmetric two-strand tundish, the asymmetric turbulence inhibitor and the baffle wall with guided holes can extend the mean residence time at the left outlet, reduce the temperature difference between the two outlets, and prompt the inclusion removal rate at the left outlet.

The residence time distribution (RTD) curve is widely applied to describe the fluid flow in a tundish, different tracer mass concentrations and different tracer volumes give different residence time distribution curves for the same flow field. Thus, it is necessary to have a deep insight into the effects of the mass concentration and the volume of tracer solution on the residence time distribution curve. In order to describe the interaction between the tracer and the fluid, solute buoyancy is considered in the Navier–Stokes equation. Numerical results show that, with the increase of the mass concentration and the volume of the tracer, the shape of the residence time distribution curve changes from single flat peak to single sharp peak and then to double peaks. This change comes from the stratified flow of the tracer. Furthermore, the velocity difference number is introduced to demonstrate the importance of the density difference between the tracer and the fluid.

In the continuous process, fluid flow is an important physical phenomena in the tundish, as it affects the process of heat transfer, bubble motion and inclusion collision-coalescence and grow up. This paper undertakes a detailed numerical investigation of fluid flow characteristics in the tundish with and without induction heating. The individual unit method and the volume subtraction model are applied to analyze the flow characteristics. A quantitative evaluation method of flow characteristics is proposed to investigate the flow characteristics. In the tundish with and without induction heating, firstly, the main flow behavior of molten steel is mixed flow in the receiving chamber; secondly, the main flow behavior of molten steel is plug flow in the channel; lastly, the main flow pattern is mixed flow, and the minor flow pattern is plug flow in the discharging chamber. The method of the volume subtraction model is an effective way to analyze the flow characteristics in the tundish with channel induction heating.