Peiyuan Ni

The Use of an Enhanced Eulerian Deposition Model to Investigate Nozzle Clogging During Continuous Casting of Steel

Nozzle clogging caused by the build-up of non-metallic inclusions on ceramic walls is a serious industrial problem during continuous casting of steel. The current theoretical study uses the extended Eulerian model to predict the inclusion deposition rate in a submerged entry nozzle (SEN). The model considers Brownian and turbulent diffusion, turbophoresis, and thermophoresis as transportation mechanisms. First, the steel flow in a tundish was simulated using a three-dimensional CFD model. The obtained flow parameter in a SEN was then put into the Eulerian deposition model to predict the deposition rate of non-metallic inclusions. Thereafter, the deposition rates of different-size inclusions in the SEN were predicted and compared. The result shows that the steel flow is non-uniform in the SEN of the tundish. This leads to an uneven distribution of the inclusion deposition rates at different locations of the inner wall of the SEN. In addition, large size inclusions among the size of inclusions considered show a large deposition rate, due to the strong effect of turbophoresis.

A physical modelling study to determine the influence of slag on the fluid flow in the AOD converter process

ABSTRACT A 1:4.6 scale physical model of a production argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) converter was used to study the influence of top slag on the AOD process. Specifically, the gas penetration depth, fluid flow and slag behaviour under different nozzle diameters, nozzle numbers and gas flow rates were studied. The results show that the relative gas penetration depth generally increases linearly with an increased gas flow rate and a decreased nozzle size. Furthermore, the slag thickness increases linearly with an increased gas flow rate. In addition, the open-eye size was found to increase exponentially with an increased gas flow rate. Overall, three kinds of fluid flow patterns were found in the experiments: (i) a counter-clockwise rotation, (ii) a clockwise rotation and (iii) a double circulation with the plume in the middle of the converter. A counter-clockwise rotation was most common for the current experimental conditions.