TITLE:
CFD Analysis of Influence of Slag Viscosity on the Splashing Process in an Oxygen Steelmaking Converter
AUTHORS:
Miguel A. Barron, Dulce Y. Medina, Isaias Hilerio
KEYWORDS:
CFD; Oxygen Steelmaking; Refractory Lining; Slag Viscosity; Splashing Process
JOURNAL NAME:
Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Material Science,
Vol.3 No.3,
July
1,
2013
ABSTRACT: Physical properties of
molten slag such as viscosity, density and surface tension have a significant
influence on the slag splashing process in an oxygen steelmaking converter.
Particularly, viscosity determines the shear forces that rule droplets
formation. Besides, stirring of the molten slag bath strongly depends on this
property. In this work, the influence of viscosity on the efficiency of slag
splashing is explored by means of transient Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations.
Several values of viscosity are employed in the computer experiments. In order
to quantify the splashing efficiency as function of slag viscosity, an average
slag fraction on the converter walls is defined and calculated. CFD results are
compared with those of an empirical expression, and at least qualitative
agreement is found.