Dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy in a tundish by inhibitors with different designs

A. Nájera-Bastida, L. Garcia-Demedices, P. Ramírez-López, E. Torres-Alonso, R. D. Morales

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Turbulent flow of liquid steel and its control is studied using different geometries of turbulence inhibitors. Four designs of turbulence inhibitors were characterized through experiments of tracer injection in a water model and mathematical simulations using the Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) of turbulence. Inhibitor geometries included octagonal-regular, octagonal-irregular, pentagonal and squared. A layer of silicon oil was used to model the behaviour of tundish flux during steel flow. Fluid flows in a tundish using these geometries were compared with that in a bare tundish. Experimental and simulation results indicate that the flow in a bare tundish and a tundish using turbulence inhibitors open large areas of oil close to the ladle shroud due to strong shear stresses at the water-oil interface with the exception of the squared inhibitor. Oil layer opening phenomena are explained by the high gradient of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy. Using the squared inhibitor the kinetic energy reports a high gradient from the tundish floor to the free bath surface as compared with other geometries.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)318-326
Number of pages9
JournalSteel Research International
Volume78
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Dissipation
  • Inhibitor
  • Kinetic energy
  • RSM
  • Tundish
  • Turbulence

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