Hydro-Mass Exchange Processes in the Model of Steel Ladle during Bottom Purging

Abstract:

Out-of-furnace treatment of steel has many possibilities for correcting the iron-carbon semi-product obtained at the previous stage of steel production. This is ensured both by various methods of maintaining the temperature and by introducing the necessary correcting or modifying additives into the ladle with subsequent averaging stirring of the melt. At the same time, the bottom type of purging through one or more purging units became the most widespread. The paper presents the results of research on the nature of the flows created during bottom purging through a block with non-directional porosity. The research was conducted with the help of a full-scale physical model using water as a model fluid and using the conductometric method of establishing the homogeneity of the liquid bath and dissolution additives of the “heavy” type (using NaCl salt for modelling). Those additives dissolve mostly at the bottom and, for their volume distribution, require the creation of sufficient mixing flows. The study was carried out at different intensities of gas supply for purging according to the purging modes corresponding to industrial conditions. It was established that during purging in the bubbling mode through a block with non-directional porosity, the largest change in concentration during purging occurs in the volume of the liquid bath at the level of more than 25% from the bottom of the ladle. A large change in concentration indicates a significant volume of dissolution of “heavy” additives that dissolve at the bottom. This can be explained by the formation of conditions for the spiral rotation of the grouped bubble flow that breaks into individual bubbles at a distance of approx. 75% from the bottom of the ladle. Such flows create active horizontal mixing of the liquid bath. The best conditions for mixing the liquid bath, under conditions of addition of “heavy” additives that dissolve at the bottom, with the shortest homogenization time among the studied conditions were purging with an intensity of gas supply of 0.684-1.026 m³/t steel per h.

• Periodical: Defect and Diffusion Forum (Volume 442)
• Pages: 151-166
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-vEzU6U
• Online since: May 2025
• Authors: Lavr Molchanov, Tetiana Golub*, Natalia Arendach, Andrii Koveria
• Keywords: Bottom Blowing Simulation, Bubble Mode, Electrical Conductivity, Homogenization, Steel Ladle

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