Transferring Characteristics of Momentum/Energy during Oxygen Jetting into the Molten Bath in BOFs: A Computational Exploration

This paper presents a numerical study of transferring characteristics of momentum/energy during oxygen jetting into the slag-metal molten bath in basic oxygen furnaces by a multi-fluid volume of fluid model. The evolution of the momentum/energy and turbulence of jets along their axial travel were studied. The results were quantitatively compared within a wide range of oxygen supply pressures, at which the jets may be at under-or over-expanding state. The efficiency of the momentum/energy transfer from the jets to the molten bath was also assessed with respect to lance height and operation pressure. The numerical results show that the momentum and kinetic energy for the jets suffering from shock waves likely cause more intensive damping compared to the jets with expansion waves. The turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation rate are observed to firstly increase and then decrease. This effect is more pronounced at a lower operation pressure. Based on these results, the optimum lance height was identified for a rapid slagging operation. It is also shown that the efficiency of the energy transfer from the jets to the molten bath is very low. Decreasing lance height or increasing operation pressure promotes the efficiency of the momentum transfer from the jets to the molten bath but lowers the efficiency of the kinetic energy transfer.