Study of Fluid Flow and Mixing Behaviour of a Vacuum Degasser

Mondal, MK and Maruoka, N and Kitamura, S and Gupta, GS and Nogami, H and Shibata, H (2012) Study of Fluid Flow and Mixing Behaviour of a Vacuum Degasser. In: TRANSACTIONS OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF METALS, 65 (3). pp. 321-331.

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Abstract

In recent times the demand of ultra-low carbon steel (ULCS) with improved mechanical properties such as good ductility and good workability has been increased as it is used to produce cold-rolled steel sheets for automobiles. For producing ULCS efficiently, it is necessary to improve the productivity of the vacuum degassers such as RH, DH and tank degasser. Recently, it has been claimed that using a new process, called REDA (revolutionary degassing activator), one can achieve the carbon content below 10 ppm in less time. As such, REDA process has not been studied thoroughly in terms of fluid flow and mass transfer which is a necessary precursor to understand and design this process. Therefore, momentum and mass transfer of the process has been studied by solving momentum and species balance equations along with k-epsilon turbulent model in two-dimension (2D) for REDA process. Similarly, computational fluid dynamic studies have been made in 2D for tank and RH degassers to compare them with REDA process. Computational results have been validated with published experimental and theoretical data. It is found that REDA process is the most efficient among all these processes in terms of mixing efficiency. Fluid flow phenomena have been studied in details for REDA process by varying gas flow rate, depth of immersed snorkel in the steel, diameter of the snorkel and change in vacuum pressure. It is found that design of snorkel affects the melt circulation in the bath significantly.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	TRANSACTIONS OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF METALS
Publisher:	SPRINGER INDIA
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to the Springer India
Keywords:	Vacuum degasser;REDA process;Decarburization;Mixing;Fluid flow;CFD;Secondary steelmaking
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
Date Deposited:	27 Jun 2012 10:25
Last Modified:	27 Jun 2012 10:25
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/44737

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