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.