Modeling of Motion of Inclusions in Argon‐Stirred Steel Ladles

Abstract

A 3D discrete phase model (DPM)‐ and volume of fluid–coupled model is developed to investigate the multiphase flow in a 260 ton argon‐stirred ladle. The flow field and interfacial behavior in the argon‐stirred ladle are accurately predicted. Then, the Lagrangian DPM is used to trace the motion of inclusions in the liquid steel. Residence time maps, which provided the residence time required for inclusions travelling from the bulk liquid steel to the steel–slag interface, are proposed and plotted as functions of inclusion diameter and percentage of inclusions. For inclusions smaller than 10 μm, the average residence time is size‐independent but decreases from 175 to 93 s with an increment in the gas flow rate from 50 to 400 NL min−1. With increasing the inclusion size, the average residence time is dependent on both gas flow rate and inclusion diameter. When the inclusion diameter increases to 1000 μm, the average residence time is almost independent of the gas flow rate. The current model overestimates the inclusion removal rate. However, this overestimation indicates that only appropriately considering the behavior of inclusions at the steel–slag interface can accurately predict the removal of inclusions in argon‐stirred ladles.