Behaviors of jet and fluid flow in AOD converter for stainless steel refining

In AOD (argon and oxygen decarburization) converter, an important reactor for stainless steelmaking, the flow has a great effect on the refining process. Based on analysis of the behavior of a gas jet injected horizontally into liquid from side wall, a mathematical model was developed to predict the 3D turbulent flow in AOD, and the effects of gas flow rate and arrangement of lances on flow were investigated. The results show that the gas flow rate has a great effect on the trajectory of jet and flow of molten steel in the furnace, and the flow field and the distribution of turbulent kinetic energy become more reasonable in the bath with multi-lance injection. The predicted results were compared with the observation in water model, which showed a good agreement.