Abstract
The modern direction of improving the technology of steel production in high-power arc furnaces is the intensification of magnetohydrodynamic effects for mixing the melt. In this article, a furnace design is proposed that contains three roof arc and three bottom electrodes, which provides the formation of additional eddy currents in the melt when the furnace is supplied with direct current or a low-frequency current. For a numerical study of the features of heat transfer in the melt of this furnace, a three-dimensional mathematical model of magnetohydrodynamic and thermal processes was used. The results were processed using the methods of visualization of vortex structures and the Richardson criterion. In an oven with a capacity of 180 tons at currents in the electrodes of 80 kA, the conditions for the interaction of electric vortex and thermogravitational convection were studied. Results showed that thermogravitational convection due to nonuniform heating of the melt led to a decrease in the size of the main electric vortex flow and the formation of an additional flow near the side walls of the furnace. The features of azimuthal flows formed in the areas of electric arcs and hearth electrodes were analyzed. Results showed that the multivortex structure of the flows that formed in the furnace allowed the volume of stagnant zones to be reduced and provided acceptable melt mixing conditions. The results can be used to improve the energy and structural parameters of three-electrode arc furnaces.
Highlights
At present, high-power arc steel-making furnaces with melt bath capacity exceeding 100 tons and installed power exceeding 100 MVA with currents of 50–150 kA in the electrodes [1,2] may be referred to as a separate group among electrometallurgical units
Results showed that thermogravitational convection due to nonuniform heating of the melt led to a decrease in the size of the main electric vortex flow and the formation of an additional flow near the side walls of the furnace
Based onon thethe numerical study of of convective heat transfer in in thethe proposed six-electrode furnace supplied with direct current, it was shown that the structure of flows in the furnace was multivortex
Summary
High-power arc steel-making furnaces with melt bath capacity exceeding 100 tons and installed power exceeding 100 MVA with currents of 50–150 kA in the electrodes [1,2] may be referred to as a separate group among electrometallurgical units. In the region of electric arcs, downward flows of the melt are formed, and in the region of the hearth electrodes, upward flows are formed In this case, thermogravitational convection affects the structure of flows depending on the temperature difference, direction, and intensity of eddy currents. According to [10], these parameters can be regulated independently for each arc electrode Such regulation will provide effective correction of the electromagnetic field in the furnace melt and will allow the vortex electric flows and heat fluxes in the melt to be effectively controlled during the melting process. This study is a continuation of [11], which was devoted to numerical modeling of the electromagnetic field in this furnace
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