Numerical study of droplet dynamics impinging onto steel plate covered with scale layer

The steel hot rolling process is inseparably connected to an oxide layer called “scale” at high temperatures. Hydraulic descaling of rolled material is a part of all rolling trains. Surface quality after descaling is fundamental for the final surface quality of a rolled product. The process itself is not theoretically well described; various different approaches have been used to clarify the descaling problem. This paper describes the dynamics of high-speed impact between the compressible water droplet and the steel scale layer. The phenomenon is known as water hammer effect. The purpose of this study is to numerically verify the fact that impact stress can be a significant factor during the descaling process. Considering a high droplet impact speed (100–300 ms−1), inferential extremely short time interval (0.1–5 μs) peaks in impact pressure reaching 300 MPa can be found. Droplet dynamics was simulated with the help of LS-Dyna solver, whereas the stress analysis was performed in ANSYS interface. The extreme pressure peaks of very short duration in an impact area are a new phenomenon in the descaling theory.