板坯连铸中间包气幕挡墙夹杂物去除的研究

分析了中间包不加气幕挡墙和加气幕挡墙吹氩时夹杂物上浮速度与气泡直径、夹杂物直径和密度的关系。气泡尺寸对夹杂物的上浮速度影响比较明显,夹杂物的密度对上浮速度的影响不大。进行了中间包气幕挡墙的工业试验,试验表明:中间包底吹气对钢液中小夹杂物的去除作用不明显,而对大型的夹杂物去除效果显著。     

Modeling Study of Turbulent Flow Effect on Inclusion Removal in a Tundish with Swirling Ladle Shroud

The present study is focused on the assessment of a new concept of ladle shroud capable to control the turbulence promoted by the steel entry jet in a continuous casting tundish; the new proposal is a Swirling Ladle Shroud (SLS). It presumed that the SLS decreases the impact velocities in the tundish bottom close to 1/3 of that provided by a conventional shroud. In this mathematical study an analysis of turbulence control and particle removal is made by comparing the SLS with two different conventional tundish arrangements. Particle sizes included 1, 5, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140 and 160 microns. Simulations also included the effects of the mass flow rate on the removal efficiency of non‐metallic inclusions, considering 3.8 and 7.6 ton/min mass flow rates. It was found that the SLS is capable to handle different mass flow rates, opposite to the conventional arrangements where at any increase of mass flow rate, these devices become inefficient to control turbulence, reducing considerably the inclusion removal efficiency. These results illustrate that using a SLS, the turbulent flow control and the particle removal may be better with this new proposal.     

六流小方坯中间包气幕挡墙的数学模拟

根据6流200 mm×200 mm方坯30 t中间包的结构操作工艺参数,采用欧拉两流体模型、多孔介质模型、欧拉-拉格朗日随机轨道模型及Monte-Carlo法,并引入气泡吸附模型,用数学模拟法对比研究了采用气幕挡墙技术对6流中间包内钢液流动特性及夹杂物去除的影响。结果表明,采用气幕挡墙技术优化后,可以有效改善钢液的流动状态,均衡各出口停留时间,有效延长钢液的平均停留时间,降低死区体积,提高夹杂物去除率,适应多流中间包超纯净钢冶炼的需求。     

INCLUSION REMOVAL IN A TUNDISH BY GAS BUBBLING

Abstract

The probabilities of inclusion removal from liquid steel by collision and attachment to rising gas bubbles have been analyzed. A simple mathematical model of inclusion removal by gas bubbling in a tundish has been developed. It was found that maintaining bubble size in the range of 0.5 to 3 mm should enhance inclusion removal efficiency. Increasing the bubbly volume fraction in the tundish and the tundish residence time can be used to improve the inclusion removal efficiency by gas bubbling. However, the formation of small bubbles in a tundish may be problematic as bubble size is affected by the high wetting angles typical of liquid metal contact with bubble orifice materials.

On a analysé la probabilité de l’enlèvement d’inclusions de l’acier liquide par collision et attachement à des bulles ascendantes de gaz. On a développé un modèle mathématique simple de l’enlèvement d’inclusions par barbotage de gaz dans un panier de coulée. On a trouvé que le maintien de la taille de bulle dans la plage de 0.5 à 3 mm devrait accroître le rendement de l’enlèvement d’inclusions. On peut utiliser l’augmentation de la fraction volumique de bulles dans le panier de coulée et son temps de résidence pour améliorer le rendement de l’enlèvement d’inclusions par barbotage de gaz. Cependant, la formation de petites bulles dans un panier de coulée peut être un problème car la taille des bulles est affectée par les angles mouillants élevés typiques du contact du métal liquide avec les matériaux d’orifice de bulle.     

Inertial and buoyancy driven water flows under gas bubbling and thermal stratification conditions in a tundish model

Steel flow dominated by inertial and buoyancy flows under gas bubbling and thermal stratification conditions, in a one-strand tundish, was studied using a 2/5 scale water model. The use of a turbulence inhibitor yields plug flow volume fractions well above 40 pct for a casting rate of 3.12 tons/min under isothermal conditions. Small flow rates of gas injection (246 cm³/min), through a gas curtain, improved the fluid flow by enhancing the plug flow volume fraction. Higher flow rates originated an increase of back-mixing flow, thus forming recirculating flows in both sides of this curtain. Step inputs of hot water drove streams of this fluid toward the bath surface due to buoyancy forces. A rise in gas flow rate led to a thermal homogenization in two separated cells of flow located at each side of the gas curtain. Step inputs of cold water drove streams of fluid along the tundish bottom. Use of the gas curtain homogenized the lower part of the tundish as well as the upper part of the bath at the left side of the curtain. However, temperature at the top corner of the tundish, in the outlet box, remained very different than the rest of the temperatures inside this tundish. High gas flow rates (912 cm³/min) were required to homogenize the bath after times as long as twice the mean residence time of the fluid. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements corroborated the formation of recirculating flows at both sides of the gas curtain.     

Study on Mass Transfer Characteristics in an AOD Converter Bath under Conditions of Combined Side and Top Blowing

The mass transfer characteristics in a steel bath during the AOD refining process with the conditions of combined side and top blowing were investigated. The experiments were conducted on a water model unit of 1/4 linear scale for a 120‐t combined side and top blowing AOD converter. Sodium chloride powder of analytical purity was employed as the flux for blowing, and the mass transfer coefficient of solute (NaCI) in the bath was determined under the conditions of the AOD process. The effects of the gas flow rates of side and top blowing processes, the position arrangement and number of side tuyeres, the powdered flux particle (bubble) size and others on the characteristics were examined. The results indicated that, under the conditions of the present work, the mass transfer coefficient of solute in the bath liquid is in the range of (7.31×10^?5‐3.84×10^?4) m/s. The coefficient increases non‐linearly with increasing angle between each tuyere, for the simple side blowing process at a given side tuyere number and gas side blowing rate. The gas flow rate of the main tuyere has a governing influence on the characteristics, and the gas jet from the top lance decreases the mass transfer rate, the relevant coefficient being smaller than that for a simple side blowing. Also, in the range of particle (bubble) size used in the present work and with all other factors being constant, raising particle (bubble) size increases the coefficient. Excessively fine powder particle (bubble) sizes are not advantageous to strengthening the mass transfer. With the oxygen top blowing rate practiced in the industrial technology, the side tuyere arrangements of 7 and 6 tuyeres with an angular separation of 22.5° and 27° between each tuyere, as well as 5 tuyeres with an angle of 22.5° between each tuyere can provide a larger mass transfer rate in the bath. Considering the relative velocity of the particles to the liquid, the energy dissipation caused by the fluctuation in the velocity of the liquid in turbulent flow and regarding the mass transfer as that between a rigid bubble and molten steel, the related dimensionless relationships for the coefficient were obtained.     

Fluid dynamics and mass transfer in submerged gas-particle jets

A room temperature model of a submerged gas-particle jet was used to investigate the hydrodynamics and gas-liquid mass transfer in such systems. Air or CO₂ was used to inject particles of silica sand into water. In some cases, the sand was coated with resin to produce a hydrophobic surface. The flow regimes of behavior were observed: In the bubbling flow regime large bubbles of gas are formed and penetrated by a stream of particles which did not entrain gas, and in the steady jet flow regime the gas and particles travel together in a narrow cone. The second flow regime is favored by a high gas velocity, a small particle size, and a high ratio of particles to gas in the jet. The surface characteristics of the injected particles do not appear to affect this transition. A CO₂-NaOH solution model was used to determine the effects of inert particle injection of the rate of mass transfer from gas to liquid. The rate of mass transfer was higher in steady cone jets, because under these conditions, the gas is dispersed into finer bubbles and carried deeper in the bath. Formerly Graduate Student in the Department of Civil Engineering, Mechanics, and Metallurgy, University of Illinois at Chicago     

Particle Distribution and Separation in Continuous Casting Tundish

The tundish as a part of a continuous casting machine combines the discontinuous ladle metallurgy with the continuous solidification of slabs in the mould. The tundish plays a major role in the challenging task of “clean steel” production. That means the smallest number of inclusions and high cleanliness in all steel grades after changing the conditions at the inlet of the tundish. Inclusions hinder the metal forming process and lead often to fatigue. The cleanliness of steels is important to fulfil the customer's requirements. In the present study inclusion removal was simulated in a 1:3 scaled water model of a single‐strand tundish for the production of stainless steels with a particle counter. The particle counter is capable of counting a large number of particles with a wide range of diameters. The separation rate for particle diameters from d_P = 1 ‐ 250 μm was determined with a counter for the water model tundish. With similarity conditions for the particles this deposition rate can be transformed to the melt flow in a steel tundish. The separation rate was measured for different flow rates in the water model tundish. A larger flow rate decreased the separation rate. Additionally, the separation rate for the tundish fitted with an impact pad was measured and showed a significant increase of separation for particles with a smaller diameter. Furthermore, the particle distribution in the tundish for different size groups of particles was investigated with and without an impact pad. Numerical simulations were carried out with the finite‐volume commercial code FLUENT using the realizable k‐ε turbulence model. A special boundary condition for the separation of particles at the surface was implemented.     

Transient Flow and Inclusion Removal in Gas Stirred Ladle during Teeming Process

A water model of a typical 150t ladle was designed and constructed to determine the flow characteristics. A kind of organic emulsion was selected to model nonmetallic inclusion particles with the purpose of studying the inclusion removal effect under gas blowing in a teeming ladle. The presented modeling method for inclusion particles in the teeming process is different from those under steady condition. The numerical simulation was performed by using commercial software with the Eulerian‐Eulerian multiphase model applied to a model gas blown through a ladle. The numerical component of this study was conducted aiming at exploring the transient flow characteristics in teeming ladle corresponding to the physical experimental condition. Under the present conditions the authors came to the conclusion that soft gas blowing (2.7～4.0 × 10^?6 m³/s) was favourable to float inclusion particles into the slag layer. It is suggested to end the gas blowing when the drainage percentage reaches 50%.     

Turbulent flow of liquid steel and argon bubbles in slide-gate tundish nozzles: Part I. model development and validation

The quality of continuous-cast steel is greatly affected by the flow pattern in the mold, which depends mainly on the jets flowing from the outlet ports in casting with submerged tundish nozzles. An Eulerian multiphase model using the finite-difference program CFX has been applied to study the three-dimensional (3-D) turbulent flow of liquid steel with argon bubbles in slide-gate tundish nozzles. Part I of this two-part article describes the model formulation, grid refinement, convergence strategies, and validation of this model. Equations to quantify average jet properties at the nozzle exit are presented. Most of the gas exits the upper portion of the nozzle port, while the main downward swirling flow contains very little gas. Particle-image velocimetry (PIV) measurements are performed on a 0.4-scale water model to determine the detailed nature of the swirling velocity profile exiting the nozzle. Predictions with the computational model agree well with the PIV measurements. The computational model is suitable for simulating dispersed bubbly flows, which exist for a wide range of practical gas injection rates. The model is used for extensive parametric studies of the effects of casting operation conditions and nozzle design, which are reported in Part II of this two-part article.     

中间包吹氩去除夹杂物的模拟研究

通过水模型模拟实验,选用苯胺模拟夹杂物,有机硅油模拟中间包渣,研究了中间包吹氩去除夹杂物的效果;通过刺激—响应法测定中间包吹氩RTD曲线,探讨了中间包吹氩去除夹杂物的过程和机理。研究结果表明:在中间包吹氩条件下,活塞区体积分数最大的吹氩位置不一定会得到最大的夹杂物去除效果,在注流区附近吹氩,不但可以提高气泡捕捉夹杂物颗粒的概率,而且促进了夹杂物颗粒相互碰撞长大,去除夹杂物效果更为明显。     

Study on Process Technology of Gas Bubbling Curtain Substituting Dam in the Tundish of Slab Casting

This paper presents experimental results from physical and mathematical simulation of liquid steel flow in the tundish adopting gas bubbling curtain substituting dam and industrial trials have been investigated based the experimental results. Physical and mathematical simulation results show the gas bubbling curtain can improve pattern of liquid flow in the tundish , accelerate inclusions flotation,and simultaneity metallurgy effect has been further improved when combining weir and turbulence inhibitor. The industrial trial results confirm that content of oxygen , nitrogen and inclusions in continuous casting billets have been reduced when gas bubbling curtain combining weir and turbulence inhibitor.     

Water Modelling Experiments of Argon Bubbling Curtain in a Slab Continuous Casting Tundish

Fluid flow characteristics in a two‐strand slab tundish with Ar bubbling curtain were studied in water modelling experiments. It was found that the Ar bubbling curtain can greatly improve the flow characteristics in the tundish with a weir, a dam and a turbulence inhibitor. It dramatically increased the peak concentration time and plug volume and greatly decreased the dead volume, but hardly influenced the minimum residence time. Therefore, the fluid flow characteristics in a tundish with Ar bubbling curtain were favourable to the flotation and separation of inclusions from molten steel. The flow characteristics with low gas flow rate and short distance of the Ar bubbling curtain from the tundish outlet were better than those with high gas flow rate and large distance of the curtain from the outlet.     

Physical and Mathematical Modeling of Inert Gas-Shrouded Ladle Nozzles and Their Role on Slag Behavior and Fluid Flow Patterns in a Delta-Shaped, Four-Strand Tundish

Inert gas shrouding practices were simulated using a full-scale, four-strand water model of a 12-tone, delta-shaped tundish. Compressed air was aspirated into the ladle shroud to model volumetric flow rates that range between 2 and 10 pct of steel entry flows. Bubble trajectories, slag layer movements, and flow fields, were visualized. Flow fields were visualized using particle image velocimetry (PIV). A numerical model also was developed using discrete phase modeling (DPM) along with the standard k-ε turbulence model with two-way turbulence coupling. Predicted flow fields and bubble trajectories corresponded with the water model experiments.     

Mathematical Modeling of Fluid Flow in Bath during Combined Side and Top Blowing AOD Refining Process of Stainless Steel: Mathematical Model of the Fluid Flow

Considering that the liquid flow field under the conditions of the combined side and top blowing would be a combined result from the common action of the side blowing gas streams and a gas top blowing jet, as the first attempt, the three‐dimensional mathematical models for the flows of molten steel in an AOD converter bath during the simple side and top blowing processes have been proposed and developed, respectively. And the mathematical model of the flow in the bath during the combined blowing AOD refining process of stainless steel has been given by the composition and superposition of the two models. In the composed model, the gas‐liquid two‐phase flow is described and treated in terms of the two‐fluid (Eulerian‐Eulerian) model. The especially modified two‐equation k?ε model for the turbulence in the liquid phase is employed. And, the surface of the sunken pit formed by impact of the gas jet blown from a top lance at the central location of the bath liquid surface is regarded as a revolution paraboloid. The related details of the composed model are shown.     

气幕挡墙中间包钢水流动的数值模拟

根据二流连铸1500mm×250mm板坯时中间包的操作工艺参数,采用欧拉两流体模型,多孔介 质模型和拉格朗日随机轨道模型,模拟计算了采用湍流控制器和气幕挡墙技术的中间包内钢液流动特性和 夹杂物的运动轨迹,并用Monte-Carlo法统计了夹杂物的总去除率。模拟结果表明,采用中间包气幕挡墙技术 可以有效改善钢液的流动特性,延长钢液停留时间,减小死区体积;当吹气量为0.90m³/h时,夹杂物去除率比 不吹气工艺增加15.6%     

气幕挡墙中间包仿真优化及其冶金效果

根据水钢炼钢厂150 mm×150 mm六流连铸32 t中间包的结构操作工艺参数,采用数模仿真法研究了气幕挡墙技术对中间包内钢液流动特性及夹杂物去除的影响,并对HPB235和65钢进行了工业试验。结果表明,气幕挡墙可以有效改善钢液的流动状态,均衡各出口停留时间,有效延长钢液的平均停留时间,降低死区体积,提高夹杂物去除率。该技术适应多流中间包纯净钢冶炼的需求。     

Fluid flow behaviour of liquid in cylindrical vessels stirred by one or two air jets

In the present paper, based on the two‐phase model (Eulerian‐Eulerian model), the three‐dimensional fluid flow in water system and liquid steel system stirred by one or two gas jets is simulated. A new modified k‐? turbulence model is introduced to consider the bubbles movement contribution to k and ?. The mathematical simulation agrees well with the experimental results. Calculation indicates that the distance of the two jet nozzles has a big effect on the fluid flow behaviour. Placing two gas injection nozzles at the half radii of one diameter of the bottom generates a much better mixing than that injected by only one nozzle with the same total gas flow rate.     

中间包吹氩技术的研究进展

讨论了中间包吹氩技术去除夹杂物的机理以及影响夹杂物去除率的因素,并综述了中间包吹氩时气液两相流体流动的数学模型,讨论了几种不同的中间包吹氩技术,指出了我国中间包吹氩技术的现状。