Showing papers by "Lifeng Zhang published in 2007"

Investigation of Fluid Flow and Steel Cleanliness in the Continuous Casting Strand

Abstract: Fluid flow in the mold region of the continuous slab caster at Panzhihua Steel is investigated with 0.6-scale water model experiments, industrial measurements, and numerical simulations. In the water model, multiphase fluid flow in the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) and the mold with gas injection is investigated. Top surface level fluctuations, pressure at the jet impingement point, and the flow pattern in the mold are measured with changing submergence depth, SEN geometry, mold width, water flow rate, and argon gas flow rate. In the industrial investigation, the top surface shape and slag thickness are measured, and steel cleanliness including inclusions and the total oxygen (TO) content are quantified and analyzed, comparing the old and new nozzle designs. Three kinds of fluid flow pattern are observed in the SEN: “bubbly flow,” “annular flow,” and an intermediate critical flow structure. The annular flow structure induces detrimental asymmetrical flow and worse level fluctuations in the mold. The SEN flow structure depends on the liquid flow rate, the gas flow rate, and the liquid height in the tundish. The gas flow rate should be decreased at low casting speed in order to maintain stable bubbly flow, which produces desirable symmetrical flow. Two main flow patterns are observed in the mold: single roll and double roll. The single-roll flow pattern is generated by large gas injection, small SEN submergence depth, and low casting speed. To maintain a stable double-roll flow pattern, which is often optimal, the argon should be kept safely below a critical level. The chosen optimal nozzle had 45-mm inner bore diameter, downward 15 deg port angle, 2.27 port-to-bore area ratio, and a recessed bottom. The pointed-bottom SEN generates smaller level fluctuations at the meniscus, larger impingement pressure, deeper impingement, and more inclusion entrapment in the strand than the recess-bottom SEN. Mass balances of inclusions in the steel slag from slag and slab measurements show that around 20 pct of the alumina inclusions are removed from the steel into the mold slag. However, entrainment of the mold slag itself is a critical problem. Inclusions in the steel slabs increase twofold during ladle changes and tenfold during the start and end of a sequence. All of the findings in the current study are important for controlling slag entrainment.

Residence Time Distribution in a Multistage Agitated Contactor with Newtonian Fluids: CFD Prediction and Experimental Validation

Abstract: Residence time distributions (RTDs) are investigated in a multistage agitated contactor (MAC) for Newtonian fluids. A suitable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation strategy is presented in this work. The effects of operating conditions, reactor geometries, and a turbulent parameter for the RTD curves are discussed. The resulting mean residence times and variances via the CFD simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data. Various liquids are used to simulate the RTD under different flow conditions. The Reynolds number with respect to the impeller speed ranged from 2600 to 50 000. The simulation results show that a cascade of stirred tanks with a back flow (CTB) model is more suitable to describe the flow behavior in a MAC with few stages than an axial dispersion model.

Removal of Na and Ca from Aluminum Scrap through Filtration

Abstract: Removal of Na by an “active” AlF3 filter seemed to be so efficient that all the sodium was removed in the present experiments. The removal of Na is considered to be limited by the resistance in the melt boundary layer only. However this is not the case for calcium. For calcium to be transfered into the AlF3, resistance in the filter grains has to be taken into account in addition to the resistance in the melt boundary layer. This was indicated by the total mass transfer coefficient of only 4x10-5 m/s. A kinetic model was derived that can describe the removal of Ca from molten aluminum in an “active” AlF3 filter by deep bed filtration following first order kinetics.