The turbulent recirculating flow field in a coreless induction furnace, a comparison of theoretical predictions with measurements

Abstract

A mathematical representation has been developed for the electromagnetic force field and the fluid-flow field in a coreless induction furnace. The fluid flow field was represented by writing the axisymmetric turbulent Navier–Stokes equations, containing the electromagnetic body-force term. The electromagnetic body force field was calculated by using a technique of mutual inductances. The k-ε model was employed for evaluating the turbulent viscosity, and the resultant differential equations were solved numerically.The theoretically predicted velocity fields were in reasonably good agreement with the experimental measurements reported by Hunt & Moore; furthermore, the agreement regarding the turbulence intensities was essentially quantitative. These results indicate the k-ε model does provide a good engineering representation of the turbulent recirculating flows occurring in induction furnaces. At this stage it is not clear whether the discrepancies between measurements and the predictions, which were not very great in any case, are attributable either to the model or to the measurement techniques employed.