Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Submerged gas injection into a liquid metal bath is a fundamental process in the pyrometallurgical production of metals such as steel, copper, nickel, and lead. In steelmaking processes, inert and/or reactive gases are injected through submerged tuyeres; however, tuyere lifetime can be reduced by thermal wear, back-attack, and liquid-metal penetration. A widely used countermeasure is the formation of a frozen, porous metallic accretion, also referred to as a “mushroom”, on the tuyere tip using a shroud gas. In this work, the solidification and growth of the mushroom under multiphase conditions are simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for an Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) converter. The presence of a central gas flow (supersonic and compressible), as well as its penetration length, is approximated using analytical calculations. The flow of shroud gas through the porous mushroom and the solidification of the liquid metal are modelled using a Eulerian approach. Owing to the geometry and boundary conditions, a two-dimensional axisymmetric model is employed; the validity of this assumption is verified through comparison with three-dimensional simulations.
Institutions: K1-MET GmbH (Austria), Primetals Technologies (Austria)
Language: English
Subfield: Metals and Alloys
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225260960