Design of the digital twin of a continuous casting machine in the iron and steel industry

The Continuous Casting Machine (CCM), a critical component of the iron and steel production line, plays a central role in converting molten steel into semi-finished products without interruption. The continuous nature of the process, combined with the high temperature of molten steel and the sensitivity of flow rate and timing parameters, makes maintaining uninterrupted operation crucial for overall production efficiency. In this study, the operational factors affecting the performance of the CCM were analyzed, and a digital twin model was developed to enable the virtual examination of optimization, autonomous operation, preventive and predictive maintenance, fault detection, and repair scenarios. The model was implemented using Siemens TIA Portal software, where all operational components of the system were reconstructed in a digital environment. Through the designed HMI interface, commands related to molten steel transfer from ladles, tundish level monitoring, and the control of the oscillation frequency a key parameter for production continuity can be executed either manually by the operator or autonomously by the system. This thesis particularly focuses on the oscillation frequency, which directly determines the casting speed. The system frequency, which is manually adjusted based on operator experience in real systems, was made autonomous by evaluating model factors. With this capability, the developed CCM digital twin serves as both a training tool to support operator decision-making and an experimental simulation platform for testing the accuracy of operational decisions under various scenarios. Furthermore, several case studies were conducted within the scope of this thesis to analyze system behavior under different production conditions. Once the pre- and post-casting production line parameters are fully defined, the developed model can be extended to operate the entire production process in a fully autonomous control mode.