Splashing Simulation of Liquid Steel Drops during the Ruhrstahl Heraeus Vacuum Process

Abstract

In view of the serious splashing problem in the 120 ton Ruhrstahl Heraeus (RH) refining process of a special steel company, a coupling model of volume of fluid + discrete phase model was established to study the influence of the vacuum pressure drop mode on the RH vacuum splashing. Three different pressure drop modes were simulated, and the splash situation was described by the fluctuation of the liquid level and the velocity field in the vacuum chamber in this model. The model predicted that the most serious splashing situation of liquid drops would happen at the early stage of vacuum treatment, which was consistent with that found in industrial production. The liquid level in the vacuum chamber maintained a low fluctuation at the late stage of the RH vacuum process. The vacuum pressure drop mode was closely relevant with the splashing situation. The splashing of liquid steel can be effectively improved by controlling the vacuum pressure drop mode, and it can be used in the industrial production situation.