Modelling of electrovortex and heat flows in dc arc furnaces with bottom electrode

Abstract

The article is devoted to the investigation of interaction between electrovortex and heat flows of liquid metal in dc arc furnaces with a bottom electrode. A mathematical model of liquid steel flows in a dc arc furnace with a bottom electrode was developed, and an algorithm of a three-stage solution was produced based on standard software packages. The results of electromagnetic, heat transfer and hydrodynamic analysis in industrial dc arc furnaces are given. It is shown that the Lorentz force makes up ～30% of the volumetric gravity force and makes the main contribution to vortex flow of liquid metal in a dc arc furnace. The convection flows with the maximum heat power of furnace make a significant contribution to the vortex flow of liquid metal, and the maximum value of the vortex flow velocity is ～1·5 times more than the movement without convection. The verification of results has been carried out by comparing them with general electrovortex flows theory, experimental data and results of similar software packages.     

Effect of different bottom blowing elements on stirring characteristics of molten bath in converter

The bottom blowing element is the key equipment to ensure the bottom blowing effect of the converter.Three types of bottom blowing elements,dispersive type(D1),double circular seam(D2)and straight cylinder type(D3),were built,and the effects of bottom blowing element type on molten bath flow,wall erosion and furnace bottom erosion were simulated.It was found that when the bottom blowing elements of dispersive type(Dl)and double circular seam(D2)were used,the dead zone area in the lower part of the molten bath was smaller,and the high-speed zone area was larger;therefore,the stirring effect on the bottom melt was better.When the straight cylinder type(D3)bottom blowing element was used,the gas penetrated the molten bath at a faster rate to reach the surface of molten bath and failed to disperse in the bottom molten bath,and the wall shear stress near the nozzle outlet was larger.When argon was blown by three different bottom blowing elements,the area of the wall shear stress greater than 3 Pa was 4.8,5.6 and 8.7 cm2,respectively,within 0.2 m of the bottom blowing nozzle outlet.     

Water model experiment on the liquid flow behavior in a bottom blown bath with top layer

Water model experiments were performed to study the effect of top slag on the mean flow and turbulence characteristics in a steel bath agitated by bottom gas injection. The slag was modeled by silicone oil with a density of 0.968 g/cm³ and a kinematic viscosity 100 times larger than that of water at 25 °C. Velocity measurements were made using a two-dimensional (2-D) laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) in the absence of swirl motions. The output signals of the LDV system were processed on a personal computer to obtain the axial and radial mean velocity components, the root-mean-square (rms) values of the axial and radial turbulence fluctuations, the Reynolds shear stress, and the turbulence production for two cases with and without top slag. The bubbling jet (or the bubble dispersion) region was localized near the centerline of the bath by the presence of the top oil layer. The mean flow and turbulence motions in the recirculation region located outside the bubbling jet region were also suppressed significantly by the top layer. This result could be attributed to the entrainment of top slag into steel in a real system.     

Rotor Lorentz force as a parameter for the estimation of vortex flows in a DC electric arc furnace with different bottom electrode positions

This article is devoted to researching a simple parameter which can predict the electrovortex flow in a liquid conductor under a Lorentz force. This is provided by a numerical simulation of the electrovortex and convection flows in a DC electric arc furnace with the bottom electrode in different positions. The electromagnetic, temperature and hydrodynamic distribution parameters are given. It is shown that lifting the bottom electrode above the fettle surface by the electrode radius leads to the decrease of shear stress on the fettle area by 30%, while putting the bottom electrode lower than the fettle surface by a distance equal to the electrode radius and its expansion by the same distance reduces stress by 10%. A good correlation between the shear stress on the fettle area and a rotor Lorentz force provide possibility to use rotor Lorentz force as a simple electromagnetic parameter for the estimation of the vortex flow influence on the increased wearing of the fettle.     

Model study of turbulence structure in a bottom blown bath with top slag using conditional sampling

Water model experiments were carried out to study the effect of top slag on the turbulence structure in a molten steel bath agitated by bottom gas injection. Water and silicone oil were used as models of molten steel and slag, respectively. Air was injected through a single-hole bottom nozzle so that the reverse emulsification of the silicone oil occurred at the silicone oil-water interface. Silicone oil droplets thus generated were carried deeply into the lower water layer. Turbulence measurements were made using a two-channel laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) in the presence and absence of the top oil layer. A conditional sampling method called the four-quadrant classification method was applied to detect large scale coherent motions in the vertical bubbling jet as well as in the recirculation region. The structure and intensity of turbulence inside the bubbling jet were strongly affected by bubbles. In the absence of the top oil layer, higher momentum fluid motions directed from the centerline of the bubbling jet to the sidewall of the vessel were mainly responsible for the turbulence production in the bubbling jet, while lower momentum fluid motions directed from the sidewall toward the centerline governed the turbulence production in the recirculation region. On the other hand, in the presence of the top oil layer, the coherent motion in the bubbling jet was also affected slightly by the top layer except for the center of the bubbling jet, whereas any distinguished coherent motion was not observed in the recirculation region, and hence, turbulence production was weak there.     

Establishment time of liquid flow in a bath agitated by bottom gas injection

The establishment time of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a cylindrical bath agitated by bottom gas injection through a central single-hole bottom nozzle was investigated. Because the turbulence intensity in the bath was comparable to or larger than the unity, the conventional definition of the flow establishment time based on the history of mean velocity was not suitable for the present case. In fact, it was difficult to determine the flow establishment time based on the well-known 90 or 99 pct criterion for the mean velocity. Accordingly, two methods of determining the flow establishment time by focusing on the turbulence components instead of the mean velocity components were proposed. Velocity measurements were made with a two-channel laser Doppler velocimeter. The flow establishment time was correlated as a function of gas flow rate. Close agreement was obtained by the two methods.     

Electrical stimulation of cardiac tissue by a bipolar electrode in a conductive bath

A three-dimensional (3-D) computer simulation of the electrical stimulation of passive cardiac tissue from a bipolar electrode placed within a conductive bath is presented. Through the bidomain model, the syncytial and anisotropic properties of cardiac tissue are taken into account; tissues with equal anisotropy and no transverse coupling are also considered. The membrane is represented by a capacitor and passive resistor in parallel. Located within an isotropic bath, the bipolar electrode is oriented either perpendicular or parallel to the tissue surface. For anisotropic tissue with a small cathode-tissue separation, the tissue surface is highly depolarized under the cathode with the depolarization persisting a considerable distance from the electrode in the transverse fiber direction. Adjacent to this region in the longitudinal direction, areas of hyperpolarization exist. At large distances from the cathode, the tissue surface is hyperpolarized in all directions when the electrode axis is perpendicular to the tissue. In the parallel case, surface depolarization creates buried regions of hyperpolarization. For the perpendicular configuration, the ratio of the steady-state maximum depolarization to steady-state maximum hyperpolarization, an estimate of the ratio of anodal to cathodal threshold, decreases rapidly with increasing cathode-tissue separation. In the parallel case, the depth of the conductive bath significantly affected the transmembrane potential distribution in the tissue. The use of a 3-D model more realistically simulates real-life electrical stimulation (such as stimulation with an implantable pacemaker) and provides insight into the effect of the volume conductor adjacent to the tissue.     

Velocity and turbulence measurements in a cylindrical bath subject to centric bottom gas injection

Laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) measurements were made to clarify the fluid flow behavior in a bath subject to centric bottom gas injection. Correlations of the axial mean velocity and turbulence components in the gas-liquid two-phase flow region,i.e., in the bubbling jet region, were proposed as functions of the inner diameter of nozzle, gas flow rate, and densities of gas and liquid. Measured values of the flow rate, momentum, and kinetic energy of water rising upward were approximated satisfactorily by these empirical correlations. In addition, the Reynolds shear stress was calculated and compared with measured values. Formerly Graduate Student, Osaka University,     

Model study of bubble and liquid-flow characteristics in a bottom blown bath under reduced pressure

Gas injection techniques are widely used in metals refining processes. Pressure on the bath surface of reactors is sometimes highly reduced to enhance the efficiency of refining. Many fundamental and practical investigations have been made to clarify the effects of reduced surface pressure on the mixing time and reaction rates of decarburization or desulfurization in the bath. However, details of these effects are not fully understood yet. Since the mixing time and chemical reaction rates are closely associated with fluid flow phenomena in the bath, information on, for example, the total surface area of bubbles rising in the bath and liquid flow induced by the buoyancy force of the bubbles should be accumulated as much as possible. In this study, the so-called water-model experiments were carried out to reveal the effects of reduced surface pressure on the bubble and liquidflow characteristics using a two-needle electroresistivity probe and a two-dimensional laser Doppler velocimeter. At an axial position near the nozzle, each bubble expanded to a volume corresponding to the hydrostatic pressure. The bubble and liquid-flow characteristics in the axial region located farther than this axial position were found to be approximately the same as those obtained under an atmospheric surface pressure.     

连续热镀锌锌锅内物理场的数值模拟

在带钢连续热镀锌生产中,锌锅中的铝含量及其波动对产品质量有着极其重要的影响,而铝的质量浓度场的分布与锌液在锌锅内的流动、温度分布和锌铝锭的添加位置紧密相关。以某连续热镀锌锌锅为研究对象,采用流体力学方法研究锌铝锭添加对锌锅内流场、温度场和成分场的综合影响。模拟结果表明,自然对流效应改变了锌锅后侧锌液流动形式,冷锌液流向锌锅底部,锌锅后侧形成大范围涡流;锌锅整体温度波动较小,补锭口温度为锌锅最低,锌锅进出口温度较高;B锭(Zn-0.2%Al)融化补充的铝主要进入锌锅底部,高铝锌锭F锭(Zn-10%Al)的添加可调整V形区内的铝溶度分布。此研究为减少锌锅内铝浓度的波动和优化补锭工艺奠定了基础。     

Separation of a midlevel density current from the bottom of a continental slope

The high-salinity water flowing out of the Mediterranean Sea descends to mid depths in the density-stratified ocean, continues as a narrow jet along the Iberian continental slope, and intermittently detaches large-scale eddies (called "Meddies"). This process is important because it maintains the relatively high mean salinity of a major water mass (the "Mediterranean Intermediate Water") in the North Atlantic. Our simplified model of this jet consists of a moving layer with intermediate density rho2 sandwiched between motionless layers of density rho1 < rho2 and rho3 > rho2. The inshore (anticyclonic) portion of the midlevel jet (in the "rho2-water") rests on an inclined bottom (the continental slope), whereas the (cyclonic) offshore portion rests on the density interface of the stagnant deep (rho3) layer. An inviscid, steady, and finite-amplitude longwave theory is used to show that if the cross-stream topographic slope increases gradually in the downstream direction, then the "rho2-jet" is deflected off the bottom slope and onto the upper density interface of the rho3 layer. The computed magnitude of this separation effect is such as to produce an essentially free jet which is removed from the stabilizing influence of the continental topography. It is therefore conjectured that time-dependent effects (baroclinic instability) will produce further amplification, causing an eddy to detach seaward from the branch of the jet remaining on the slope.     

Thermal monitoring of the electrode and bath in an ore-roasting furnace during downtime

The emf in the electrode-ground circuit is considered during downtime, when the ore-roasting furnace is switched off. The emf is found to be related to temperature equalization between uniform electrode-melt and lining-melt contacts (the Peltier effect); and also to the temperature gradients in the materials (the Thomson effect). The emf may be used to create a fundamentally new method of assessing the temperature at the electrode’s working surface and the thermal state of the bath during downtime.