Numerical Simulations of the Kinetic Energy Transfer in the Bath of a BOF Converter

The paper focuses on the fundamental aspects of the kinetic energy transfer from a top and bottom gas injection to the bath of the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) by applying a mathematical model. The analyses revealed that the energy transfer is less efficient when top lance height is lowered or the flowrate is increased in the top blowing operations. However, an inverse trend was found that the kinetic energy transfer is increased when the bottom flowrate is increased for the current bottom blowing operation conditions. The kinetic energy transfer index results indicated that the energy transfer for the bottom blowing is much more efficient than that of the top blowing operations. To understand the effects of the upper buoyant phase on the energy dissipation of the bulk liquid in the bath, different mass and physical properties of slag and foam were considered in the bottom blowing simulations. The slag on top of the bath is found to dissipate by 6.6, 9.4, and 11.2 pct for slag mass values of 5, 9, and 15 t compared to the case without slag atop the surface of the bath, respectively. The results showed that the kinetic energy transfer is not largely influenced by the viscosity of the upper slag or the foaming phases.