A physical modelling study to determine the influence of slag on the fluid flow in the AOD converter process

ABSTRACT

A 1:4.6 scale physical model of a production argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) converter was used to study the influence of top slag on the AOD process. Specifically, the gas penetration depth, fluid flow and slag behaviour under different nozzle diameters, nozzle numbers and gas flow rates were studied. The results show that the relative gas penetration depth generally increases linearly with an increased gas flow rate and a decreased nozzle size. Furthermore, the slag thickness increases linearly with an increased gas flow rate. In addition, the open-eye size was found to increase exponentially with an increased gas flow rate. Overall, three kinds of fluid flow patterns were found in the experiments: (i) a counter-clockwise rotation, (ii) a clockwise rotation and (iii) a double circulation with the plume in the middle of the converter. A counter-clockwise rotation was most common for the current experimental conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical modelling
• AOD
• slag
• side-gas injection
• penetration depth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Pär G. Jönsson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9775-0382