ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5, pp.

814822

Numerical Study of Multiphase Flow Dynamics of Plunging Jets of

Liquid Steel and Trajectories of Ferroalloys Additions in a Ladle
during Tapping Operations
Jafeth RODRGUEZ-AVILA,1) Rodolfo D. MORALES2) and Alfonso NJERA-BASTIDA3)
1) Graduate Student, Instituto Politcnico Nacional-ESIQIE, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Ed. 7,
UPALM, Col. Lindavista, D.F. CP 07738 Mexico. E-mail: jafethra@hotmail.com
2) Instituto Politcnico Nacional-ESIQIE, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Ed. 7, UPALM, Col. Lindavista,
D.F. CP 07738 and K&E Technologies President, Manizales 88, Col. Residencial Zacatenco, D.F. CP 07369 Mexico. E-mail:
rmorales@ipn.mx, ketechnologies@prodigy.net.mx
3) Formerly Graduate Student. Now at Instituto Politcnico Nacional-ESIQIE, Department of Metallurgy and Materials
Engineering, Ed. 7, UPALM, Col. Lindavista, D.F. CP 07738 Mexico.
(Received on September 27, 2011; accepted on November 24, 2011)

A multiphase numerical analysis focused on flow dynamics and particle trajectories during steel tapping
operations was developed. The numerical results indicate that lighter additions than steel (ferrosilicon and
aluminum) are independent from bath level, fall height and flow dynamics of the melt. Neutral buoyant
additions (FeMn) are strongly dependent on fluid dynamics of the melt and bath height. Denser additions
(like FeNb) yields long residence time inside the melt before first emerging to the bath surface. However,
when this ferroalloy is added at high bath levels, close to the end of tapping, the particles remain in the
corner formed by the bottom and the wall of the ladle during long times prolonging their melting rates.
KEY WORDS: tapping steel; air bubbles; additions; ferroalloys.

ing into the melt. Final oxygen levels, assuming thermodynamic equilibrium during steel tapping, depend then on
efficient mixing and melting-dissolution processes of ferroalloys and aluminum. Due to these reasons it is important
to know the trajectories and residence times of particles of
ferroalloys in molten steel. The problem this paper is dealing with had been already analyzed by Guthrie et al.6) who
employed a balance of forces on a particle and evaluated the
importance of drag, buoyancy, added mass and history forces
acting on a particle submerged into a liquid. Their physical
and mathematical models included experiments of wooden
particles with different densities into a tank of still water.
After the mathematical analysis of their experiments these
authors concluded that the history term in the balance of
forces has negligible influence on the particle dynamics
emphasizing the importance of drag, buoyancy and mass
added forces. Maximum depth penetration of particles, for
a given initial entry velocity, depend on the density ratio
between the particle of ferroalloy and steel, higher ratios
mean deeper penetrations. Tanaka et al.7) performed also
physical and mathematical modeling for ferroalloys additions in a 250 ton steel ladle. They established, through
dimensional analysis, modeling criteria for addition sizes
and entry velocities between a model and the actual ladle
linked by the square root of the scale factor of the model.
These authors simulated the effects of steel motion on
spherical particle trajectories assuming a one-way coupling
mechanism between liquid and particles (liquid steel flow

1. Introduction
Tapping is probably the most important operation leading
to clean steel production since it is during this time that
deoxidizers and alloying elements, in form of ferroalloys or
metallic, are added and slag carryover must be avoided to
simplify later ladle furnace operations. Naturally, initial
oxygen content in steel governs the efficiency of those additions but certainly air entrainment by the plunging jet and
the bath surface turbulence contribute to form a multiphase
flow made of liquid steel, air and solid particles of deoxidizer. Under these circumstances excessive air entrainment
works as a cushion dampening the steel motion and hindering the mixing and the melting-dissolution processes of ferroalloys. Ferroalloy additions to molten steel initially freeze
a shell of steel around the particles and this shell melts back
after the ferroalloy or metal13) (like Al and Ni) addition has
melted within this shell. Hereof, the residence time of ferroalloys particles inside the melt during steel tapping is
important to have high alloying and deoxidizing efficiencies. Assuming thermodynamic equilibrium, complete mixing conditions and efficient ferroalloys dissolution, the
group of the authors demonstrated that the amounts and
types of inclusion chemistries depend on the addition
sequence during steel tapping, steel level in the ladle and
oxygen concentration in the melt.4,5) Therefore, those findings underline the importance of an efficient mixing process
assisted by the momentum transfer effects of the jet plung 2012 ISIJ

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ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

influences particle dynamics). According with these authors

buoyant additions, such as aluminum and FeSi, are hardly
affected by the flow pattern of steel since buoyancy force is
so large that the dynamic behavior of these particles does
not change even when compared with conditions of particles
in a stagnant liquid. The reverse is true for denser particles
whose trajectories are strongly influenced by fluid flow
dynamics. The penetration of either, dense or light additions
is improved when they are injected close or in the plunging
steel jet. Maximum penetration depths and total immersion
times were substantially smaller when particles with different geometries like cubes and cylinders are added to the
bath. However, as Guthrie et al.1,2) have shown, and cited
above, when a ferroalloy enters a bath of liquid steel, a solid
steel shell very rapidly forms around it. This shell formation
would tend to mask sharp irregularities in particles shape
maintaining valid the approximation of a spherical shape. In
another work, Mazumdar and Guthrie8) applied their model
to the CAS (Composition Adjustment by sealed Argon
Bubbling Systems) process and found that the shape and
size of particles have negligible effect on the overall nature
of particle trajectories except for those with densities close
to that of liquid steel. Efforts in the direction to model physically plunging water jets dragging air have been reported
by Hammad9) using PIV measurements and Iguchi et al.10)
who employed LDV measurements. The first authors found
two-phase flow dynamics very sensitive to ambient perturbations, such as free surface instability and external vibrations. On the other hand, LDV measurements were not possible in the developing region of the two-phase flow.
Therefore, water models to explain plunging steel jets are
limited and can be used only for qualitative estimations of
these complex flows. In the present work mathematical
modeling approach is adopted since, possibly, it can provide
closer results to those observed in the steelmaking practice.
Hereby, in order to complement the knowledge so far
developed in this field and to apply it to the actual steelmaking conditions various aspects, not considered in precedent
works, must be addressed. These aspects are the air dynamics during steel tapping, air entrainment by the plunging jet,
air bubbles dynamics generated and associated with the
entry jet and effects of steel level in the ladle at different
stages of the steel tapping operation. The final aim of the
present work is then to build a frame where the factors influencing ferroalloys efficiency may be identified considering
conditions closer to those found in current steelmaking processes.

main mechanisms for steel mixing during tapping.

Plunging steel jet forms a perfect cylinder from the
Eccentric Bottom Tapping (EBT) nozzle of the furnace
to the bath surface or plunging point.
The plunging jet is centered in the ladle geometric centre.
The multiphase flow is one-way coupled, meaning that
steel flow influences particle dynamics, but particles
motions do not affect liquid steel flow.
There is not slag phase in the system, which implicitly
means that slag carryover does not exist attaining then
an ideal perfect tapping operation.
Steel throughput at tapping is constant.
The three-dimensional (3-D), multiphase and unsteady
turbulent fluid flow model of steel tapping operations was
simulated through the solution of a set of continuity equations, one for each phase, and a set of momentum transfer
equations for all phases and the standard k- two-equation
turbulence model as is explained below.
2.1.1. Continuity Equation
The tracking of the interface(s) between each pair of
phases is accomplished by the solution of the continuity
equation for the volume fraction of one (or more) of the
phases. For the qth phase, this equation has the following
form:

1
q

t q q + ( q q vq ) = S q + p =1 m pq m qp

(1)

where m pq is the mass transfer rate from phase q to phase

p and m qp is the mass transfer from phase p to phase q.
Since there is not a source term on the right-hand side of Eq.
(1), S q , is zero. Moreover assuming that air is essentially
insoluble in liquid steel there is not mass transfer between
both phases and m pq = m qp = 0 . Therefore, the full right
hand side of Eq. (1) is zero. Assuming that p is the primary
phase (liquid steel) and q is the secondary phase (air) Eq. (1)
is solved for air and the volume fraction of liquid steel will
be computed from the following constraint:

q =1 q = 1 ................................ (2)
n

Density and viscosity of the mixture are calculated

through the weighted volume fraction of each phase according to the following Equations:

= q =1 q q ............................. (3)
n

= q =1 q q ............................. (4)
n

2. Mathematical Model

2.1.2. Momentum Equation

A single momentum equation is solved throughout the
domain, and the resulting velocity field is shared among the
phases. The momentum equation expressed through time
averaged flow variables, shown below, is dependent on the
volume fractions of all phases through the averaged properties of density and viscosity.

2.1. Multiphase Model

The computational approach of this model involves the
solution of Navier-Stokes Equations for a multiphase flow
through an explicit method using the Volume of Fluid
(VOF) model11,12) in order to define sharp interfaces, among
air and liquid steel. As the problem is of a multiphase nature
some important simplifications, as a first attempt to deal
with these complex flows, are made. These assumptions are
as follows:
There are not heat losses, therefore, buoyant-thermal
forces are neglected and gravity-inertial forces are the

(ui u j )
( ui )
p

+
=
+
t
x j
xi x j

u
eff i

xj

+ g ... (5)

where p is pressure (Pa), eff is the turbulence-adjusted

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effective viscosity (kg/m-s), calculated by,

of the eddy. The instantaneous fluid velocity is then given

by:

eff = 0 + t .............................. (6)

where 0 is the laminar fluid viscosity (kg/ms); t is turbulent fluid viscosity (kg/ms). The standard k- two-equation
turbulence model is employed to determine the effective
viscosity eff, and the detailed equations can be found elsewhere.1316) The trajectory of each particle was calculated by
using the Lagrangian-Lagrangian approach,11,17) which considers the force balance acting on the particle:

du pi
dt

p
18 C D Re p
u j u pi +
gi
2

p d p 24

1 d
ui
ui
ui u pi +
p xi
2 p dt

ui = ui + ui ................................. (9)
u = ui 2 = 2 k / 3 ..................... (10)
where ui is mean fluid phase velocity (m/s); ui is random
velocity fluctuation (m/s); random number; is a normally
distributed random number; k is local level of turbulent
kinetic energy (m2/s2). Therefore, the flow field is calculated
through Eqs. (1)(6) plus equations for the kinetic energy
and its dissipation rates together with the auxiliary equations
of the k- model. Once that the flow field is calculated it is
used to calculate the trajectories of particles in the melt
through Eqs. (7)(10).

........ (7)

where pi is particle velocity at direction i (m/s); t is time

(s); CD is dimensionless drag coefficient; Rep is particle
Reynolds number; dp is particle diameter (m); p is particle
density (kg/m3). The drag force coefficient is given by:

CD =

2.2. Operating Conditions

Size of the ladle is 80 tons with dimensions which can be
seen in Figs. 1(a)1(b), steel is tapped from and electric furnace through an Eccentric Bottom Tapping (EBT) system.
The center of symmetry of this ladle is located exactly
below the discharging nozzle of the EBT and the tapped
steel amounts 70 tons leaving about 1015 ton as hot heal
inside the electric furnace for the next heat. The distance
from the tip of the EBT nozzle to the ladle bottom is 3.30
m, the diameter of the EBT nozzle is 114 mm and is
embedded in the furnace lining with a thickness of 1 m.
Averaged steel throughput during tapping is between 18
and 25 tons/min depending on the conditions of the EBT
nozzle; tapping is carried out by a furnace tilting practice
which tries to maintain a constant steel throughput. Steel
temperature at tapping is 1 627C. Steel viscosity is 0.0064
Pa-s, steel density at that temperature is 7 192 kg/m3, atmospheric pressure is 101 317 Pa and tapping throughput is
22.5 tons/min, surface tension at the steel-air surface is 1.606
N/m. Air density in the ladle, is considered as 0.5 kg/m3 with
a viscosity of 1.189105 Pa-s.
Four types of additions were analyzed; FeMn, FeNb,
FeSi and Al which densities and compositions are reported
in Table 1. The first ferroalloy has a similar density like that
of molten steel; the second is heavier while the last two are
lighter. Therefore these four additions are representative of
the dynamic behavior of various types of ferroalloys, deoxidizers and additions made to molten steel during tapping
operations.
In this work, three positions of fall in the ladle are considered as shown in the Table 2. The velocity of particles
was calculated considering the height of fall in the ladle furnace depending on the filling melt level.

24
(1 + 0.186 Re0p.6529 ) .................. (8)
Re p

The first term in Eq. (7) is the drag force per unit particle
mass, the second term is the gravitational force, the third
term is the virtual mass force accelerating the fluid surrounding the particle,11) and the fourth term is the force
stemming from the pressure gradient in the fluid. To incorporate the stochastic effect of turbulent fluctuations on
the particle motion, the random walk model17,18) was used.
In this model, particle velocity fluctuations are based on a
Gaussian-distributed random number chosen according to
the local turbulence kinetic energy. The random number is
changed, thus producing a new instantaneous velocity fluctuation, at a frequency equal to the characteristic lifetime

a)
Fig. 1.

b)

Geometry of the ladle in mm. a) Top view b) Frontal view.

Table 1. Ferroalloy density and apparent density of each ferroalloy

related to density of liquid steel.
Ferroalloy

Density (Kg/m )

Apparent density
(dimensionless)

Fe Mn (50 mass%)

6 200

Fe Nb (65 mass%)
Fe Si (75 mass%)
Al

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Table 2.

Positions and velocity of ferroalloys in free fall.

0,950

Steel mass
in ladle
(ton)

Center
(m)

Medium
(m)

Side
(m)

Bath level
(m)

Velocity in y
direction (m/s)

7 980

1,140

30

0,11

0,593

1,1

0,94

6,61

3 354

0,485

50

0,11

0,593

1,1

1,58

5,58

2 594

0,390

70

0,11

0,593

1,1

2,23

4,29

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ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

2.3. Computing Approach

A finite volume computational technique embedded in
the FLUENT package was employed to solve all equations
of the multiphase model based on a turbulence model of
two-Equations known as k- model. The computational cell
involves the full volume of the ladle plus the 3D space located between the ladle top and the tip of the EBT nozzle. The
computational grid is structured in the lower and upper part
of the ladle; where the EBT nozzle delivers liquid steel a
hybrid cell was constructed. Figure 2 shows the computational grid with a total of 657 986 cells for the complete
computational domain. The discretization scheme of this
grid is the so called PRESTO for the pressure equation, First
Upwind for equations of momentum, turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy and Georeconstruct for the Volume Fraction equation in the VOF
model. For the Pressure-Velocity coupling the PISO algorithm was employed together with skewness-neighbor coupling and skewness correction of 1. Relaxation factors for
pressure, density, body forces, momentum, turbulent kinetic
energy, dissipation rate of kinetic energy and turbulent viscosity were 0.3, 1.0, 1.0 0.5, 0.8, 0.8 and 1.0, respectively.
The time step was constant an equal to 0.001 seconds using
sub-time steps governed by a constant Courant number of
0.25. The calculation method is explicit solving the pressure
and momentum equations, after the beginning of a new time
step, and later the continuity is solved. The explicit method
is preferable over implicit methods when density variations
among the involved phases are very large and Geo-reconstruct discretization is suitable for small numerical diffusion
effects and when definition of sharp interfaces are required
which is just the case of the present problem. Besides, this
formulation does not require iterative solution of the transport equation during each time step, as is needed for the
implicit scheme. When the Euler explicit scheme is used, a
time-dependent solution must be computed, which is just the
case of the present work.

3. Results
3.1. Velocity Fields by Plunging Jet
Figures 3(a), 3(b), 3(c) and 3(d) show the velocity fields
during steel tapping for steel filling levels of 10, 30, 50 and
75 tons, respectively. The first figure shows essentially the
effects of the plunging steel jet on the surrounding air which
receives momentum to form long recirculating flows at each
side of the jet. Steel, in the ladle bottom, Fig. 3(a), observes
a horizontal flow without well defined recirculations. At 30
tons, Fig. 3(b), air forms four recirculating flows, two smaller ones in contact with the melt and other two, long ones,
in the upper side of the ladle. Steel forms recirculating flows
at both sides of the jet. Besides, along the jet there is the formation of a boundary layer of air with larger velocities at
the metal-gas interface. At 50 tons, Fig. 3(c), the flow pattern described by the precedent figure remains, however, the
two recirculating air flows in contact with the melt are now
smaller. The steel flow forms two longer vertical recirculating flows just as it does when the steel level is 30 tons. At
75 tons, Fig. 3(d), the flow patterns suffer radical changes;
the two recirculating flows of air remain. However, flow
pattern of steel now indicates vertical-downwards displacements toward the ladle bottom without forming recirculating
flows; rather three smaller recirculation flows are formed
along the jet length and one in the ladle corners as is indi-

2.3.1. Boundary Conditions

Boundary conditions applied in this work are; velocity in
the nozzle tip, no-slip conditions in ladle wall and ladle bottom, atmospheric pressure on the bath surface and wall
functions to link melt velocities in the boundary layers with
bulk melt velocities outside. Convergence criterion was
established as that when the sum of residual for all flow
equations was smaller than 105. Initial speed of ferroalloys
and metallic additions is that calculated by the free fall
velocity given by v = 2 gh .

a)
Fig. 2.

a)

c)

b)
Fig. 3.

Computational grid a) External isometric view b) Internal

isometric view.

817

b)

d)

Velocity fields during steel tapping for steel levels a) 10

ton, b) 30 ton, c) 50 ton, and d) 75 ton.

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ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

cated by numbers 14. These changes of flow patterns in the

two-phase system must have considerable influence on the
mixing of ferroalloys and metallic additions as will be seen
later.

air by dragging mechanisms in the boundary layer between

the jets surface and the surrounding air. The two-phase
plunging jet inside the melt is disintegrated by its impact
with the ladle bottom leading to mechanisms of bubbling
breakouts. Some bubbles shapes keep the typical sphericalcap geometry and the bath surface yields a complex topography due to the distortion effects of air bubbles emerging
from the bath. Indeed, the emerging air bubbles from the
bulk molten steel have an even distribution in the melt volume which is slightly different to that observed at lower
melt levels. Figure 5(b) shows air bubbles distributions in
the melt volume at a level of 70 tons. Different to the any
of the precedent cases now the gas phase is concentrated
around the plunging jet. Large bubbles are developed due to
the entrainment of air by the plunging jet, but few bubbles
are developed close to the ladle walls. Besides, again some
shapes of air bubbles keep the spherical-cap geometric typical of moderate Reynolds numbers. Since there are not
sources of direct measurements of steel velocities during
actual tapping operations it was decided to build a 1/3 scale
model of the industrial ladle following Froude scale criterion with purposes to perform qualitative comparisons with
results of mathematical simulations. Figures 6(a) and 6(b)
show the air bubbles distributions at water levels equivalents to 10 and 75 tons of steel in the ladle. Both figures
should be compared with Figs. 4(a) and 5(b), respectively.
As is seen, distribution pattern of air bubbles in water and
steel are, qualitatively speaking, very similar. Thereby, these
experimental visualizations provide the ground to assume
here that the mathematical model has the capability to predict reasonable reliable results of steel-air complex flows.
However, it is recognized that future water velocity measurements must be performed to come out with more certain
knowledge.

3.2. Dynamics of Air Bubbles in Molten Steel

Air bubbles play an important role on nitrogen and hydrogen pickup even if steel is tapped with high ppm of oxygen
from the furnace. Figure 4(a) shows the distribution of bubbles as seen from the ladle bottom where it is clear that the
air entrained by the plunging jet forms bubbles in the melt
following a radial pattern due to the momentum transfer
imparted by the melt. Owing to the same reasons, air bubbles emerge to the atmosphere in regions close to the ladle
wall and in middle positions between the plunging jet and
the ladle wall as is seen in Fig. 4(a). Figure 4(b) shows the
distribution of air bubbles in molten steel at 30 tons level,
various features are visible in this figure as follows:
Firstly, the distribution of bubbles is homogeneous in the
melt volume, secondly, the plunging jet entrains an appreciable amount of air into the molten steel, and thirdly, some
of the bubbles shapes acquire the typical spherical cap shape
of moderate Reynolds numbers. Figure 5(a) shows the air
bubbles distribution at a melt level of 50 tons. Again it is
evident that air distribution is homogeneous in the melt volume and that the plunging jet drags considerable amounts of
air into the melt. The plunging jet entrains large volumes of

a)
Fig. 4.

b)

Distribution of bubbles in the melt to different levels a) 10

ton (seen from the ladle bottom), b) 30 ton.
a)

b)
a)
Fig. 5.

b)

Fig. 6.

Distribution of bubbles in the melt to different levels a) 50

ton, b) 70 ton.

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Dispersion of air bubbles in the ladle model. a) Air bubbles

distributed along the radial direction at 10 tons. b) Air bubbles distributed along the plume at 75 tons.

ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

3.3. Dynamics of Ferroalloys

3.3.1. Effects of Particle Size
Residence time of a ferroalloy particle inside the melt is
critical in order to be efficiently melted and dissolved in the
bath. In principle denser and larger particles have more
chance to be available for alloying and deoxidation purposes
than light and small ones. Here therefore, the time which a
particle remains inside the melt since its introduction until
its first emergence in the bath surface, before it may be
introduced again in the bath by melt currents, is defined as
the minimum residence time (MRT). Figures 7(a) and 7(b)
show the effects of two particle sizes (1 and 5 cm) of a dense
ferroalloy such as ferromanganese when both are falling in
the midpoint between the entry jet and the ladle wall at a
bath level of 50 tons. It is clearly seen that independently
from the particle size generally this ferroalloy has long paths
(with large particles, 5 cm, having longer MRT than small
ones, (1 cm). On the other side, buoyant ferroalloys such as
ferrosilicon yield completely opposite behaviors with regard
to dense ferromanganese as can be seen in Figs. 7(c) and 7(d)
for the same sizes of 1 and 5 cm falling in the bath under the
same conditions described above. As is seen in those figures
paths and residence times of both particles are very short and
emerge soon from the bath. These particles, especially those
of sizes like 1 cm will remain on the bath surface during the
complete tapping time with significant losses of efficiency.

profound effects on ferroalloy availability in the melt bulk.

Figures 8(a)8(d) show the trajectories and residence times
of particles with a size of 5 cm falling in the midpoint
between the entry jet and the ladle wall at a bath level of
50 tons for ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, aluminum and ferroniobium, respectively. Ferromanganese yields long trajectories having longer times for the melting process while the
buoyant additions of aluminum and ferrosilicon float out
from the bath having less availability inside the melt. Special mention deserves the behavior of ferroniobium which is
heavier than liquid steel. As is seen in Fig. 8(d) this ferroalloy
yields long MRT and at this bath level can be predicted that
the particle has the chance to be efficiently melted. At this
steel tonnage availability of ferroniobium to interact with the
melt is practically independent from the falling position of
these particles (diameter of 5 cm) as can be seen in Figs. 9(a)

3.3.2. Effects of Particle Density

Among all tapping variables particle density has the most

a)

b)
Fig. 8.

c)
Fig. 7.

a)

b)

c)

d)

Different types of ferroalloy with diameter of 5 cm and

steel level at 50 ton. a) FeMn MRT 22.2 s, b) FeSi MRT
0.8 s, c) Al MRT 1 s, d) FeNb MRT 15.4 s.

d)
a)

Addition of ferroalloys with different size a) FeMn diameter of 1 cm MRT 5.6 s. b) FeMn diameter of 5 cm MRT
22.2 s. c) FeSi diameter of 1 cm MRT 0.5 s. d) FeSi
diameter of 5 cm MRT 0.8 s.

Fig. 9.

819

b)

c)

Falling position of ferroniobium particles with diameter of

5 cm at 50 ton, a) Close to the jet, MRT 14.1 s; b) At mid
point, MRT 18.2 s; c) Close to ladle wall, MRT 20.5 s.

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9(c) for locations close to the jet, in the midpoint between

the jet and the ladle wall and close to the ladle wall, respectively. It is clear that in any of three cases ferroniobium
yields long trajectories having more chance for efficient
melting processes with falling positions close to the ladle
wall favoring longer MRT. However, at higher bath levels
such as, for instance, 70 tons a complete different result
emerges as can be seen in Fig. 10 for a ferroniobium particle
of 5 cm diameter falling close to the entry jet, in the midpoint between the jet and the ladle wall and close to the wall,
respectively. Indeed, in the three cases the particles sunk to
the ladle bottom where steel motion is very weak and
remain there during long times. These particles subjected to
very weak convection currents, either natural or forced,
have to spend very long times to be completely melted giving place to inaccurate reports of niobium chemistry before
sending the ladle to the caster, or even at the caster turret,
which is a fact commonly lived in the steelmaking shop.

fall close to the jet represents the best conditions to attain

high ferromanganese availability followed by the midpoint
position. Nevertheless, the position closest to the ladle wall
yields irregular trajectories mainly promoted by the ascending steel stream along the ladle wall as a result of the
momentum transfer imparted by the plunging jet. For buoyant alloys is clear that the best falling position must be as
close as possible to the jet or in the jet itself where the driving forces provided by the plunging jet will push them well
inside the melt.
3.3.4. Minimum Residence Times
As was previously defined the minimum residence times
(MRT) refers to those minimum times that a particle
remains in the metal bulk before it emerges to the bath surface. It does not mean that a particle that emerges fast from
the bath will not render a complete melting process as it will
have the chance to reentry into the bath, but certainly the
MRT provides a qualitative measure of the ferroalloy availability. Figure 12 shows a bar plot for MRT statistics for
those particles with diameters of 5 cm corresponding to ferrosilicon, ferromanganese, aluminum and ferroniobium for
a ladle level of 30 tons at different falling positions. Each
bar represents the mean value of the MRT for 100 simulations and the numbers in each bar correspond to the standard
deviations for each case. Buoyant additions, ferrosilicon and
aluminum, have longer times when the falling position is
close to the jet and very short times at any other position.
Standard deviations of these times for buoyant additions are
small which means that the falling events and their consequences on the dynamic behavior of particles in the melt
have high repeatability (meaning independence from the
flow pattern). Ferromanganese has longer residence times
when the falling position is close to the jet but it is in this
location where the standard deviation is relatively large.
Such a behavior is in agreement with the changing flow patterns of the turbulent regime near the jet which induces also
unsteady changes in local flow turbulence. That condition is
not certainly observed in locations apart from the neighborhoods of the plunging jet where the standard deviations of
the MRT are smaller. Regarding ferroniobium it is important
to observe that the falling location close to the ladle wall
yields the largest MRT but the standard deviation is also the

3.3.3. Effects of Falling Position

Ferromanganese with a neutral density is a good example
to analyze the effects of the falling position. Figures 11(a)
11(c) show the trajectories for particles with a diameter of
5 cm at a bath level of 50 tons and falling positions including close to the entry jet, the midpoint between the jet and
the ladle wall and close to the ladle wall, respectively. Free

Fig. 10.

Ferroniobium particle of 5 cm diameter falling close to the

entry jet, in the midpoint between the jet and the ladle
wall and close to the wall.

a)
Fig. 11.

b)

c)

Trajectories for FeMn particles with a diameter of 5 cm

at a bath level of 50 tons and falling positions a) Close to
the jet MRT 9.4 s, b) At mid point MRT 14.5 s, c) Close to
ladle wall MRT 1.6 s.

2012 ISIJ

Fig. 12.

820

Bar plot for statistics of MRT for particles of 5 cm for a

ladle level of 30 ton. Numbers in each bar indicate the
standard deviation of MRT for one hundred simulations.

ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

plunging jet, yet, the high turbulence of that location induces relatively large standard deviations. Therefore, availability of buoyant or light additions can sometimes be optimum,
i.e., large MRT and some other times are not optimum, i.e.
short MRT.

Fig. 13.

Bar plot for statistics of MRT for particles of 5 cm for a

ladle level of 50 ton. Numbers in each bar indicate the
standard deviation of MRT for one hundred simulations.

Fig. 14.

Bar plot for statistics of MRT for particles of 5 cm for a

ladle level of 70 ton. Numbers in each bar indicate the
standard deviation of MRT for one hundred simulations.

3.4. Discussion
Addition of buoyant additions whenever possible should
be carried out close or just in the plunging jet to induce long
MRTs and large particle trajectories and this effect will be
favored with high steel levels in the ladle. Other falling locations will lead, generally, to very short MRTs and fast
emerging particles with minor effects of particle sizes and
resulting in low alloying efficiencies. Therefore, particle
dynamics of ferrosilicon and aluminum are very similar.
From a practical standpoint it can be said that MRTs of
buoyant additions to steel baths are independent from fluid
flow patterns in the ladle with the exception of the plunging
jet neighborhood. Even, if the melt in the ladle would be
stagnant buoyant additions will show the similar behaviors
to those described here whenever the addition are made outside the influence of the plunging jet. Naturally, with denser
additions fluid flow plays more important roles on alloys
availability as is discussed below.
For neutral floating particles such as ferromanganese the
best falling position is the mid point between the jet and the
ladle wall at a tonnage of 50 tons and this is due to the dragging effects on these particles exerted by the recirculating
flow of the melt. When the falling position is located close
to the ladle wall the MRT decreases considerable and the
standard deviation grows meaning that sometimes these particles will go deep into the melt and at some other times they
will emerge relatively fast all depending on the instantaneous fluid flow structure. Addition of ferromanganese
reaches the highest MRT at steel levels of 50 tons with a
falling position in the middle of the plunging jet and the
ladle wall. At a steel level of 30 tons the MRT of ferromanganese is longer in a falling position close to the jet and
improves when the steel level is 70 tons. The same trend is
observed when the falling position is close to the ladle wall.
MRTs of neutral particles are then dependent on the instantaneous fluid flow pattern and the best steel level for efficient alloying is at level of approximately 70% of the total
steel tonnage in the ladle.
Heavier additions than steel like FeNb, have the largest
MRTs and alloying efficiency is independent from steel
tonnage in the ladle. However, close to a level of complete
ladle filling heavy additions sink to stagnant melt regions
being subjected to low melting rates. The most recommendable steel level for these additions would be about 60% of
the total steel tonnage when the melt has been deoxidized
and melt streams do not carry them to stagnant regions.
Bringing on now the metallurgical aspects it can be said
that a recommendable and ideal tapping procedure for low
carbon aluminum killed steels, even for ultra low carbon
steels, would be the following:
Compact plunging jets by ensuring good surface conditions of the EBT nozzle and avoid slag carry-over.
Start the tapping with and addition of coke for predeoxidation purposes forming a steel cushion. Add,
simultaneously any synthetic slag if that is indicated by

largest. Figure 13 shows the MRT corresponding to a bath

level of 50 tons where is seen that buoyant additions yield
longer time magnitudes when the falling position is close to
the jet. In the case of ferromanganese this tonnage allows
long MRT when the falling position is the midpoint between
the jet and the ladle wall. Comparing these results with those
in Fig. 10 and the next Fig. 14 for a steel level of 70 tons it
is evident that a level of 50 tons allows longer MRT for ferromanganese especially when the falling position is the midpoint, although, the standard deviation is large. Ferroniobium additions observe ideal conditions for their addition
during tapping at this level of 50 tons since the MRT are
large and the standard deviations are small meaning high
repeatability of events. Dynamic behavior of ferroniobium
particles at a steel level of 70 tons, see Fig. 14, yields also
large MRT however, as was pointed above, these are not
necessarily good conditions because particles remain in the
ladle bottom where convection currents are very small
which may lead to long melting times. In the case of ferromanganese, at this tonnage, the largest MRT is observed
when the falling position is close to the jet and repeatability
of additions events is high since the standard deviations are
small. For buoyant additions, Al and ferrosilicon, the most
recommendable falling location remains that close to the
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2012 ISIJ

ISIJ International, Vol. 52 (2012), No. 5

q
q
vq
EBT
CAS

the metallurgical practice.

Make all necessary additions of aluminum and other
buoyant ferroalloys, in the ladle very close or even in
the plunging jet, required to deoxidize the melt before
the steel tonnage reaches 1/3 of the total tonnage.
At 6070% of the total tonnage make additions of ferromanganese and other heavy ferroalloys at positions
located in the middle between the jet and the ladle wall.
At this step steel is already deoxidized and patterns of
melt flow are the most suitable to ensure large MRTs.

VOF

eff
0
t
pi

4. Conclusions
A numerical-multiphase fluid flow model to study
dynamics of alloy additions during steel tapping operations
has been developed and from its results the following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Flow patterns of steel during tapping operations suffer radical changes with steel level in the ladle. These
changes of flow patterns have strong effects on neutral and
heavy additions to steel.
(2) At low steel levels, beginning of tapping, entrainment of air induces small bubbles being dragged into the
melt homogeneously distributed providing large interfacial
melt-air areas leading, eventually, to higher nitrogen and
oxygen absorption. At high steel level, close to the end of
tapping, entrained air bubbles are larger, concentrated in the
jet and with smaller interfacial areas. Expecting, under these
circumstances, less oxygen and nitrogen absorption rates.
(3) Minimum residence times in the bath of buoyant
additions to steel bath are practically independent from tapping conditions since buoyancy forces are so large that they
will emerge fast from the bath. Nevertheless, the most recommendable position for addition is as close as possible to
the plunging jet.
(4) Neutral additions are very dependent on the instantaneous flow turbulence in the bath. Most appropriate conditions indicate a bath level of approximately 60% of the
maximum level at the middle position between the jet and
the ladle wall.
(5) Heavy additions require relatively low steel levels in
the ladle. However, at a steel level of approximately 60% of
the total bath level the minimum residence time becomes
independent from the fall position.

t
CD
Rep
dp

p
i
ui

g
h

REFERENCES
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the institutions IPN and CoNaCyT for
the continuous support to Group of Metallurgical Process
Engineering at ESIQIE-IPN.
Nomenclature
m pq Mass transfer rate from phase q to phase p.
m qp Mass transfer from phase p to phase q.
S q Constant or user define mass source for each
phase.

2012 ISIJ

Fraction volume of q phase

Density of q phase
Velocity of q phase
Eccentric Bottom Tapping
Composition Adjustment by Sealed Argon Bubbling Systems.
Volume of fluid model
Density of mixture
Viscosity of mixture
Pressure
Effective viscosity
Laminar fluid viscosity
Turbulent fluid viscosity
Particle velocity at direction i
Time
Dimensionless drag coefficient
Particle Reynolds number
Particle diameter
Particle density
Instantaneous fluid velocity
Mean fluid phase velocity
Normally distributed random number
turbulent kinetic energy
Free fall velocity ferroalloy
Standard acceleration due to free fall
Height of free fall

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