Heat transfer of calcium cored wires and CFD simulation on flow and mixing efficiency in the argon-stirred ladle

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional CFD simulation model of 160-tonne LF ladle based on gas–liquid multiphase flows and k-ε mixture turbulence model was developed on FLUNET platform considering the agitation effect of argon blowing on the mixing performance of gaseous calcium in the liquid steel. Taking the volume fraction of gaseous calcium mixed in the molten steel as the quantified indicator of mixing efficiency, the flow field in the bottom argon-stirred ladle and the influence of cored-wire feeding position, feeding depth, feeding velocity, argon flow on the mixing efficiency were investigated. By utilising the element birth and death technique on MSC.MARC platform, the transient heat transfer between the calcium cored wire and the molten steel was simulated, and the effect of the feeding speed and the wire structure on the evaporation depth of the calcium was presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Argon-stirred ladle
• calcium cored wire
• heat transfer
• the element birth and death technique
• FEM;CFD
• gas–liquid two-phase flow
• mixing efficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science foundation of China (Grant Nos.51101136, 51474189).