Modeling Decarburization in the AOD Converter: A Practical CFD-Based Approach With Chemical Reactions

Abstract

Gas-blowing technology is widely used in converter steelmaking to homogenize liquid steel and accelerate chemical reactions, with Argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) being the dominant process for stainless steelmaking. Due to the harsh environment, it is advisable to study the phenomenon using small-scale physical models and numerical simulations before conducting industrial-scale trials. This paper presents a practical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach for simulating the AOD process, with chemical reactions considered. This approach can simulate the entire process in a reasonable time using a standard workstation. The simulation employs a Finite Volume Method CFD approach to handle mass, momentum, and energy transfer, and a local equilibrium assumption is utilized. The study shows that a practical approach can be used to model the initial stage of decarburization in the AOD process with a reduced accuracy in mass transport calculations. The accuracy of the simulation is validated using industrial data, and good agreement is found.