9th International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Metallurgical Processes in Steelmaking - STEELSIM2021

Molten steel is alloyed during tapping from the melting furnace to the argon-bottom stirred ladle. The metallic additions thrown to the ladle during the ladle filling time are at room temperature. The melting rates or kinetics of sinking-metals, like nickel, are simulated through a multiphase Euler-Lagrangian mathematical model during this operation, carrying out a previous assessment of the...

A fluid/fluid mass transfer model implemented in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presented. This includes the model description, proving and application for a liquid steel/ slag mass transfer within a purged steel ladle. The model considers the prevailing flow as well as concentration and for the flow it distinguishes between laminar and turbulent flow. For the case of turbulent flow,...

Bottom blowing, combined with top-blowing, is a widely used approach in the BOS process to enhance the mixing across the phases and reduce the time to decarburize the hot metal. Damages due to scrap loading or blockages by solidified steel or slag could reduce the available number of bottom blowing tuyeres, particularly during the last heats of the campaign. This reduces the mixing efficiency...

In basic oxygen steelmaking, the metal droplet decarburization plays a major role to determine the residence time and reaction (slag/metal interfacial) area of the droplets due to bloating while reacting in the emulsion zone. This ‘residence time’ and ‘reaction area’ controls the overall refining efficiency in BOF, more importantly dephosphorization efficiency. So, it is important to...

As an essential stage in inclusion removal processes, separation of inclusion at the steel-slag interface certainly affects the overall removal efficiency and is of great importance to molten steel cleanliness. In this study, the dynamics of a spherical Al2O3 inclusion (50 μm in diameter and with a typical contact angle of 45°) interacting with the steel-slag interface is investigated using...

Complex deoxidation by Si and Mn is beneficial for certain steel long products since it leads to the formation of low temperature melting manganese silicates. A better understanding of the mechanisms for inclusion formation in steels deoxidized by these elements need thorough investigation. In this regard, a kinetic model based on diffusion of steel species has been developed for deoxidation...

A three dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model using an Euler-Lagrangian approach is developed in order to understand the mixing of liquid steel in a ladle using Argon purging plugs in the bottom. The simulations consider liquid steel and slag as continuous liquid phases and Argon is considered as homogenous Lagrangian particles. The interfaces between the steel, slag, and top...

The complexity of a steel plant’s operations can be daunting, as all production steps are partially interdependent and impossible to isolate. Therefore, ever changing markets and product demands make it a challenging endeavor to keep the production at highest efficiency, while staying competitive and complying with current environmental CO2 regulations.
Because of this demanding situation it...

In modern steel productions, the necessity of a more precise knowledge and control of the process became more important in order to improve production performances, to maintain repeatability on the product quality, to support the necessary process flexibility due to frequent changes in production programs. This became more necessary in Feralpi Group for the case of special steel...

The aim of the Horizon 2020 SPIRE project MORSE (Model-based Optimisation for efficient use of ResourceS and Energy) is to develop model-based, predictive raw material and energy optimisation software tools for a whole process route. This approach is demonstrated in several pilot cases within the steel industry, to improve resource and energy efficiency, as well as product quality. This paper...

Numerical simulation plays a crucial role in the optimization of the ladle furnace. This work summarizes various works done to optimize flow modeling in the ladle furnace. This starts at the bubble scale with the development of a new measurement method based on machine learning. Then a comprehensive validation database was created on the physical modeling scale and the numerical model was...

Metallurgical processes such as the AOD converter generally utilize gas blowing for mixing and refinement of liquid steel. Due to the harsh environment of the complex and opaque system it is common to study the stirring of the process through physical and numerical models. Effective mixing in the bath has an important role for refinement such as decarburization and have been vividly studied...

Producers of stainless steels such as high alloyed duplex steels have shown an increasing interest in alloying with nitrogen. Alloying with nitrogen can replace some of the Nickel used since it affects mechanical strength, corrosion resistance and stabilizes the austenitic phase. Nitrogen is mainly used as a process gas instead of the more expensive argon gas. Depending on the ratio of...