Bubble formation during gas injection into turbulent downward-flowing water is studied using high-speed videos and mathematical models. The bubble size is determined during the initial stages of injection and is very important to turbulent multiphase flow in molten-metal processes. The effects of liquid velocity, gas-injection flow rate, injection hole diameter, and gas composition on the initial bubble-formation behavior have been investigated. Specifically, the bubble-shape evolution, contact angles, size, size range, and formation mode are measured. The bubble size is found to increase with increasing gas-injection flow rate and decreasing liquid velocity and is relatively independent of the gas injection hole size and gas composition. Bubble formation occurs in one of four different modes, depending on the liquid velocity and gas flow rate. Uniform-sized spherical bubbles form and detach from the gas injection hole in mode I for a low liquid speed and small gas flow rate. Modes III and IV occur for high-velocity liquid flows, where the injected gas elongates down along the wall and breaks up into uneven-sized bubbles. An analytical two-stage model is developed to predict the average bubble size, based on realistic force balances, and shows good agreement with measurements. Preliminary results of numerical simulations of bubble formation using a volume-of-fluid (VOF) model qualitatively match experimental observations, but more work is needed to reach a quantitative match. The analytical model is then used to estimate the size of the argon bubbles expected in liquid steel in tundish nozzles for conditions typical of continuous casting with a slide gate. The average argon bubble sizes generated in liquid steel are predicted to be larger than air bubbles in water for the same flow conditions. However, the differences lessen with increasing liquid velocity.

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Bubble formation during horizontal gas injection into downward flowing liquid

A one third scale water model experiment was conducted to observe the asymmetric flow and vortexing flow inside a slab continuous-casting mold. Dye-injection experiment was used to show the evolution of the transient flow pattern in the liquid pool without and with gas injection. The spread of the dye was not symmetric about the central plane. The flow pattern inside the mold was not stationary. The black sesames were injected into water to visualize the vortexing flow pattern on the top surface. The changes of shape and location of single vortex and two vortices with time had been observed during experiments. Plant ultrasonic testing (UT) of slabs was used to analyze the slab defects distribution, which indicated that the defects are intermittent and asymmetric. A mathematical model has been developed to analyze the time-dependent flow using the realistic geometries, which includes the submerged entry nozzle (SEN), actual mold, and part of the secondary cooling zone. The transient turbulent flow of molten steel inside the mold has been simulated using the large eddy simulation computational approach. Simulation results agree acceptably well with the water model experimentally observed and plant UT results. The oscillating motions of jet and the turbulence naturally promote the asymmetric flow even without the effects of slide gate nozzle or the existence of clogs inside the SEN. The periodic behavior of transient fluid flow in the mold is identified and characterized. The vortexing flow is resulted from asymmetric flow in the liquid pool. The vortices are located at the low-velocity side adjacent to the SEN, and the positions and sizes are different. Finally, the model is applied to investigate the influence of bubble size and casting speed on the time-dependent bubble distribution and removal fraction from the top surface inside the mold.

Transient Asymmetric Flow and Bubble Transport Inside a Slab Continuous-Casting Mold

We present an experimental study concerned with investigations of the two-phase flow in a mock-up of the continuous casting process of steel. A specific experimental facility was designed and constructed at HZDR for visualizing liquid metal two-phase flows in the mold and the submerged entry nozzle (SEN) by means of X-ray radioscopy. This setup operates with the low melting, eutectic alloy GaInSn as model liquid. The argon gas is injected through the tip of the stopper rod into the liquid metal flow. The system operates continuously under isothermal conditions. First results will be presented here revealing complex flow structures in the SEN widely differing from a homogeneously dispersed bubbly flow. The patterns are mainly dominated by large bubbles and large-area detachments of the liquid metal flow from the inner nozzle wall. Various flow regimes can be distinguished depending on the ratio between the liquid and the gas flow rate. Smaller gas bubbles are produced by strong shear flows near the nozzle ports. The small bubbles are entrained by the submerged jet and mainly entrapped by the lower circulation roll in the mold. Larger bubbles develop by coalescence and ascend toward the free surface.

Visualization of Liquid Metal Two-phase Flows in a Physical Model of the Continuous Casting Process of Steel

Mean velocity and turbulence characteristics of water flow in the bubble dispersion region induced by plunging water jet

Visualization of bubble coalescence in bubble chains rising in a liquid metal

The formation of bubbles at a nozzle and subsequent rising behavior of them in a molten iron bath at 1250°C were observed using a high-voltage X-ray fluoroscope and a high-speed video camera. The frequency of bubble formation at the nozzle exit, the mean bubble diameter and the mean bubble rising velocity were obtained for a side range of injected argon gas flow rate. Empirical correlations of these quantities were proposed and compared with previously published experimental data and empirical correlations.It has been commonly believed that the frequency of bubble formation at a nozzle placed in a molten metal bath depends solely on the gas flow rate and the outer diameter of the nozzle when the gas flow rate is relatively high and the wettability between the nozzle material and the molten metal is bad. The present experimental results, however, revealed that the frequency of bubble formation has a close relationship not with the outer diameter but with the inner diameter of the nozzle for a higher gas flow rate. Furthermore, the bubble frequency depended on the gas flow rate and the physical properties of gas and molten metal. The critical gas flow rate for the initiation of small bubbles due to disintegration of large bubbles coming from the nozzle exit was approximately 60 cm3/s under the present experimental conditions. The bubble behavior near the bath surface also was made clear.

Norihiro Takanashi

Papers

X-ray fluoroscopic observation of bubble characteristics in a molten iron bath

X-ray Fluoroscopic Observations of Bubble Characteristics in a Molten Iron Bath