• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

In the process of continuous hot-dip galvanizing, it is well known that the gas wiping through an air knife system is most effective because of its uniformity in coating thickness, possibility of thin coating, workability in high speed, and simplicity of control. However, gas wiping used in the galvanizing process brings about a problem of splashing at the strip edge above a certain high speed of process. It is also known that the problem of edge splashing is more harmful than that at the mid strip surface. For a given liquid(of a certain viscosity and surface tension), the onset of splashing mainly depends upon the strip velocity, the gas-jet pressure, and the nozzle's stand-off distance. In these connections in the present study, we proposed three kinds of air knife system having nozzles of constant expansion rate, and compared the jet structures issuing from newly proposed nozzle systems with the result by a conventional one. In numerical analysis, the governing equations are consisted of two-dimensional time dependent Navier-Stokes equations, and the standard k-${\varepsilon}$ turbulence model is employed to solve turbulence stress and so on. As the result, it is found that we had better use the constant expansion-rate nozzle which can be interpreted from the point view of the energy saving for the same coating thickness. Also, we better reduce the size of separation bubble and enhance the cutting ability at the strip surface, by using an air-knife having constant expansion-rate nozzle.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2955-2960
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• 2007

To control the coating thickness of zinc in the process of continuous hot-dip galvanizing, it is known from early day that the gas wiping through an air knife system is the most effective because of the obtainable of uniformity of coating thickness, possibility of thin coating, working ability in high speed and simplicity of control. But, the gas wiping using in the galvanizing process brings about a problem of splashing from the strip edge for a certain high speed of coating. And, it is known that the problem of splashing is caused mainly by the existence of separation bubble at the neighbor of the strip surface. In theses connections, in the present study, we proposed two kinds of air knife systems having the same expansion rate of nozzle, and the jet structures and coating thicknesses from a conventional and new proposed nozzles are compared. In numerical analysis, the governing equations consisted of two-dimensional time dependent Navier-Stokes equations, standard ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model to solve turbulence stress and so on are employed. As a result, it is found that it had better to use the constant rate nozzle from the point view of the energy saving to obtain the same coating thickness. Also, to reduce the size of separation bubble and to enhance the cutting ability at the strip, it is recommendable to use an air knife having the constant expansion rate nozzle.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

To control the coating thickness of zinc in the process of continuous hot-dip galvanizing, it is known from early days that the gas wiping through an air knife system is the most effective because of the obtainable of uniformity of coating thickness, possibility of thin coating, working ability in high speed and simplicity of control. But, the gas wiping using in the galvanizing process brings about a problem of splashing from the strip edge for a certain high speed of coating. Also, it is known that the problem of splashing directly depends upon the galvanizing speed and nozzle stagnation pressure. In theses connections, in the present study, we proposed two kinds of air knife systems having the same expansion rate of nozzle, and the jet structures and coating thicknesses from a conventional and new proposed nozzles are compared. In numerical analysis, the governing equations consisted of two-dimensional time dependent Navier-Stokes equations, standard k-e turbulence model to solve turbulence stress and so on are employed. As a result, it is found that it had better to use the constant rate nozzle from the point view of the energy saving to obtain the same coating thickness. Also, to enhance the cutting ability at the strip, it is advisable to use an air knife with the constant expansion rate nozzle.