Argon Bubble Coalescence and Breakup in a Steel Ladle with Bottom Plugs

Gas‐stirred ladles are widely used in the steel secondary refining process. In order to produce high‐quality steel, a range of stirring conditions, from hard stirring for mixing to gentle stirring for inclusion removal, is required. In this paper, a full scale unsteady three‐dimensional computationa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Steel research international 2019-04, Vol.90 (4), p.n/a
Main Authors: Liu, Wenjie, Lee, Justina, Guo, Xipeng, Silaen, Armin K., Zhou, Chenn Q.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Argon
argon bubbles
Breakup
Bubbles
coalescence
Coalescing
Computational fluid dynamics
Computer simulation
discrete phase model
Flow characteristics
Flow velocity
Gas flow
gas‐stirred ladle
Ladle metallurgy
Ladles
Mathematical models
Multiphase flow
Physical simulation
Plugs
Stirring
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Summary:Gas‐stirred ladles are widely used in the steel secondary refining process. In order to produce high‐quality steel, a range of stirring conditions, from hard stirring for mixing to gentle stirring for inclusion removal, is required. In this paper, a full scale unsteady three‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to simulate the bubble behavior in a steel ladle. A volume of fluid (VOF)‐Lagrangian approach is applied to simulate multiphase flow characteristics. The VOF method is used to track the liquid steel and slag, while the Lagrangian method is used to track the movement of argon bubbles. A water model is used to validate the gas‐stirred ladle model against experimental data. Flow field and bubble breakup and coalescence phenomena inside the ladle is studied in the baseline case, and the effects of initial bubble diameter and gas flow rate during the stirring process have been investigated through parametric study as well. The flow field and bubble breakup and coalescence phenomena inside the ladle have been studied through the VOF‐Lagrangian approach. The gas‐stirred ladle model has been validated against experimental data and the effects of initial bubble diameter and gas flow rate during the stirring process have been investigated.
ISSN:1611-3683
1869-344X
DOI:10.1002/srin.201800396