CFD Modeling of Multiphase Flow in an SKS Furnace: The Effect of Tuyere Arrangements

Abstract

The emerging bottom blown copper smelting (SKS) technology has attracted growing interest since it came into production. To further reveal the agitation behavior inside the bath and optimize the variable parameters, CFD simulation was conducted on a scaled down SKS furnace model with different tuyere arrangements. The Multi-Fluid VOF model was used for the first time in SKS furnace simulation and the simulated results show good agreement with an experimental water model reported in the literature, in terms of plume shape and surface wave. It was found that a low velocity region would appear on the opposite side of the bubble plume and persisted for a long time. To enhance the agitation in the low velocity region and reduce the dead zone area, an arrangement with tuyeres installed at each side of the furnace was recommended. Results suggested that a smaller tuyere angle difference would help to strengthen the agitation in the system. However, further investigation indicated that the difference in tuyere angle between two rows of tuyeres should be limited within a certain range to balance the requirements of higher agitation efficiency and longer lining refractory lifespan.

Numerical simulation of continuous bubbles motion behavior with different lance spacings

“…1. Our study is based on the multi-lance simulation of the bottom blown smelting furnace, which is similar to the research of Song and Jokilaakso [32].…”

“…Many scholars have verified that the application of the Eulerian Multi Fluid VoF model in the study of gas-liquid two-phase flow is feasible, and the model is widely used in the study of multiphase flow in various scenarios [29][30][31]. Song and Jokilaakso [32] used the Eulerian Multi Fluid VoF model to simulate multiphase flow in bottom blown copper smelting (SKS) furnace, and used a water model experiment to verify the correctness of the mathematical model, as shown in Fig. 1.…”

Flow Field Study of Large Bottom-Blown Lead Smelting Furnace with Numerical Simulation

“…(1) VOF model [27] The VOF model relies on the fact that two or more fluids (or phases) do not contain each other. Adding an additional phase to the model introduces a variable, the volume fraction of the phase in the calculation cell.…”

“…(2) Standard k−ε model [27] The standard k−ε model is the most common turbulence model for fluid flow and has a wide range of applications. Through a large number of calculation results and their comparison with experimental results, it is found that the standard k−ε model is used in the calculation of boundary layer flow, pipe flow, shear flow and three-dimensional boundary layer flow simulations, and the results are in good agreement.…”

“…Hu et al [26] divided the smelting process in EAF into four stages: melting stage, early decarburisation stage, intermediate smelting stage, and end smelting stage, and modelled the velocity field of molten steel under blown-bottom stirring conditions at different stages. Song et al [27] revealed the stirring behaviour in the melt pool with different air outlet arrangements. Lou et al [28] proposed a coupled computational fluid dynamics simultaneous reaction model (CFD-SRM) to investigate the effect of different contents of aluminium, manganese and silicon in the slag, and liquid steel on the slag, metal reaction and desulphurisation efficiency.…”