Abstract
The controlled splashing of metal droplets plays a decisive role in the kinetics of the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process. In this work, a mathematical model was developed for predicting the size distribution of spherical droplets ejected at an impingement zone. Harmonic oscillators are used to describe the ejection sites, and the upper limit for the droplet population is calculated through a force balance. The model was validated against literature data from high-temperature crucible experiments involving different supply pressures and lance heights as well as both single-hole and multihole lances. The predicted size distribution of the metal droplets was found to be in good agreement with the droplet size distributions measured from outside the crucible. The model was also applied for predicting the size distribution parameters of the Rosin–Rammler–Sperling (RRS) size distribution function. The model developed is computationally light and is suitable to be used as a part of offline and online simulation tools for the BOF process.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3083–3094 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Metallurgical and materials transactions. B, Process metallurgy and materials processing science |
| Volume | 53.2022 |
| Issue number | October |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 16 Aug 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of K1-MET GmbH, metallurgical competence center. The research program of the K1-MET competence center is supported by COMET (Competence Center for Excellent Technologies), the Austrian program for competence centers. COMET is funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the Federal States of Upper Austria, Tyrol, and Styria as well as the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG) and the Standortagentur Tyrol. Furthermore, Upper Austrian Research continuously supports K1-MET. Besides the public funding from COMET, the research projects are partially financed by participating scientific partners and industrial partners. Professor Timo Fabritius is acknowledged for allowing Mr. Mitas to conduct part of the research at the University of Oulu. The work by Dr. Visuri was conducted within the framework of the FFS project funded by Business Finland. The corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of K1-MET GmbH, metallurgical competence center. The research program of the K1-MET competence center is supported by COMET (Competence Center for Excellent Technologies), the Austrian program for competence centers. COMET is funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the Federal States of Upper Austria, Tyrol, and Styria as well as the Styrian Business Promotion Agency (SFG) and the Standortagentur Tyrol. Furthermore, Upper Austrian Research continuously supports K1-MET. Besides the public funding from COMET, the research projects are partially financed by participating scientific partners and industrial partners. Professor Timo Fabritius is acknowledged for allowing Mr. Mitas to conduct part of the research at the University of Oulu. The work by Dr. Visuri was conducted within the framework of the FFS project funded by Business Finland.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).