Electrovortex flow and melt homogenization in the industrial direct current electrical arc furnace

Abstract

The paper presents the computations results on the turbulent electrovortex flow and temperature field in the melt and the results on the concentration field of alloying additive in an industrial-scale (3.6 t of molten steel) electrical arc furnace with direct current power supply over one top and two bottom electrodes. The developed and experimentally verified numerical model is applied. The Large Eddy Simulation model of turbulence is used. The influence of complicated geometry (vertical blades) of the bottom electrodes on electrovortex flow regimes is compared with that of electrodes of conventional geometry. Melt flow patterns near the electrodes' blades are also observed at the melt mirror for the developed laboratory-scale experimental setup (4.8 kg of GaInSn). Melt homogenization is considered for: (i) the temperature field when the heat flux from the arc is injected at the arc spot zone at the melt mirror; (ii) the concentration field when the mass flux of alloying additive is introduced at a chosen zone of the melt mirror. Tables 3, Figs 12, Refs 26.