EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

The AOD process is primarily used for stainless steel making since conventional BOF converters lead to high loss of Cr and other alloy elements due to oxidation. During the different operational stages, namely decarburization, reduction and desulphurization, an O2/Ar mixture is fed into the converter via submerged tuyeres that can be located either in the side wall or the bottom. The O2/Ar bubbles rise to the bath surface and cause high disturbance and intensive mixture of melt and slag thus increasing the reaction surface and speeding up the process. This paper describes how to use CFD methods to investigate the influence of different tuyere positions on the velocity field and mixing behavior of melt and slag. The developed CFD model is embedded in the ANSYS FLUENT 17.0 framework and includes a transient 3D-multiphase (VOF) domain with a DPM approach to model the gas bubbles. Selected results are shown for a 60 t AOD converter with different tuyere positions. Further examples for other types of converters (BOF, OBM) are presented as well.