THE PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL-MODELING OF GAS-STIRRED LADLE SYSTEMS

Considerable efforts have been made during the past two decades to inv estigate gas injection operations in steelmaking ladies. Towards these , numerous physical and mathematical model studies embodying aqueous a s well as full scale systems have been reported. On the basis of an ex tensive literature search, a summary, discussion and analysis of these are now presented. For the sake of convenience and clarity of present ation, studies have been categorised into three major groups: (1) phys ical modelling studies, (2) combined physical and mathematical modelli ng studies and (3) mathematical modelling studies. In each of these ca tegories, a great number of publications on various phenomena, such as gas-liquid interactions, turbulent fluid flow, mixing, solid-liquid m ass transfer, etc. have been reported. Accordingly, and as discussed i n the text, considerable improvements have resulted in our understandi ng of the various gas injection induced phenomena in ladle metallurgy operations. Coupled with these, extensive mathematical modelling studi es have also lead to a reasonably accurate framework for carrying out engineering design and process calculations. Nonetheless, some obscuri ties and uncertainties still remain and these are pointed out, togethe r with those areas where further work is needed.