A numerical investigation is performed to describe the quasi‐steady fluid flow and interfacial behavior in a three‐phase argon gas‐stirred ladle with off‐centered bottom Ar injection through a plug and two plugs placed in 180° and 90°configurations, respectively. The flow of the fluid phase is solved in an Eulerian frame of reference together with the motion of every individually injected Ar bubble, tracked in its own Lagrangian frame. Volume of fluid (VOF) model is used to track any interface between two or more immiscible phases, which include slag/metal, slag/gas and metal/gas. The characteristics of fluid flow in a gas‐stirred ladle with one plug or two plugs configuration are described when the slag layer and the top gas are presented. The slag layer deformation and slag open‐eye formation at different Ar gas flow rates for three types of plug arrangements are given. The comparison of the mixing time, the deformation of slag layer and the behavior of slag/steel interface between one‐plug and two‐plug system is made. Several implications for ladle operational issues during a gas‐stirred ladle refining cycle are discussed. It is found that the proper selection of Ar gas flow rate and plug arrangements during a ladle refining cycle is required for different refining purposes considering the mixing and metallurgical reaction in a three‐phase ladle system.
A three-dimensional full-coupled mathematical model is established to study the fluid flow, heat transfer and solidification in a 450 mm × 350 mm × 90 mm beam-blank mold with two different types of submerged entry nozzle (SEN), namely single-port straight SEN and three-port radial flow SEN. Water modeling experiments, industrial trials and public results available in literature are performed to validate the numerical results. The results show that, with the straight SEN which has been widely applied in beam-blank continuous casting, there is a very inactive top free surface in the mold which level fluctuation magnitude is less than 1 mm and velocity magnitude is far from a reasonable interval, and the shell thickness distribution at the mold exit is very uneven, thick at the web but thin at the fillet. Moreover, there exists a "wavy contour" at the flange due to the washing effect of the off-center molten steel jet. While with the new designed radial flow SEN, a suitable meniscus status and a more uniform shell thickness at the mold exit can be obtained, which is helpful to avoid the breakouts caused by the rupture of thin fillet and the flange depression. The "self-braking" effect caused by two radial flow SENs provides good flow stability at the web center.
Horizontal Single Belt Casting is by far the simplest of all near net shape casting machines and is ideally suited to replace current slab caster operations, given its matching productivity, 'green' characteristics, and lower capital and operating costs. In the present paper, numerical simulations based on the Volume of Fluid method were utilized to test the performance of an optimized inclined feeding system that does not rely on the use of magnetohydrodynamics to slow the entry velocity of the liquid metal, so as to allow for a thicker film of liquid metal to be formed (10-15 mm), nor on the use of any moving side-dams so as to constrain the slab being formed. Rather, special attention was paid to the meniscus behaviour, including meniscus formation, meniscus renewal, meniscus turbulence, and the formation of tiny air pockets on the bottom surface of the forming strip.
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