The use of a heuristic search technique for the optimization of quality of steel billets produced by continuous casting

This work proposes an interaction between a numerical heat transfer model and an artificial intelligence (AI) heuristic search method which is linked to a Knowledge Base for the continuous casting of quality billets (SAE 1010 steel). A two-dimensional heat transfer model was developed using a finite difference method and was applied to real dimensions of a steel billet continuous easter. The Knowledge Base consists of technological and metallurgical constraints. The heuristic search method, aided by the Knowledge Base, explores the space parameter settings in order to find optimized cooling conditions which results in defect free biller production with minimum metallurgical length. The use of the developed search method for determining optimum setting of cooling conditions demonstrated that very good results can be attained in assuring billet quality and in the improvement of easter performance. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.