<p>To give insights into the role of pouring zone structure in tundish fluid flow and product quality, a combined approach of physical modeling, numerical simulation, and industrial trials was employed to investigate the effects of varying pouring zone structures on fluid flow, refractory stress distribution, temperature distribution, and inclusion removal in a six-strand tundish for tire cord steel production. The optimized structure, incorporating a cylindrical turbulence inhibitor and a larger upward inclination angle of symmetric deflector holes, reduces the dead zone ratio by 7.3 pct and increases the average residence time by 9.1 pct. Furthermore, the high-stress region shrinks, and the shear stress acting on the bottom and sidewall of the pouring zone is significantly reduced. The optimized structure shows a neglectable influence on the outlet temperature of all strands. The pouring zone exhibits the highest inclusion removal ratio for different inclusion sizes and reaches a stable removal state in the shortest time. The removal ratio in the pouring zone and the overall inclusion removal ratio increases by approximately 8 and 10 pct, respectively, after the optimized pouring zone structure is applied. Industrial trials further verified the modeling results with a decrease of 8.3 to 63.6 pct in number density, average equivalent circle diameter, and average width of inclusions, and the decrease of inclusion proportion (&gt; 7 <i>μ</i>m) from 6.6 pct to less than 1.8 pct.</p>