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JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL. 2006, 13(3): 18-20. 25

Steady State Heat Transfer of Ladle Furnace During


Steel Production Process
Unal Camdali' ,

Murat. Tun$

(1. Development Bank of Turkey, Ankara 06100, Turkeyi


Yeditepe University, Istanbul 81 120 Kayisdagi, Turkey)

2. Engineering Faculty,

Abstract: The heat transfer analysis was performed for an industrial ladle furnace (LF) with a capacity of 55-57 t in
Turkey. The heat losses by conduction, convection and radiation from outer and bottom surfaces, top and electrodes of L F were determined in detail. Finally, some suggestions about decreasing heat losses were presented.
Key words: heat transfer4 ladle furnace4 refining liquid steel

Steelmaking technology has greatly developed


during the last decades. Special steel production
nowadays provides profound knowledge of all the
processes and phenomena from the steel melting until manufacturing and use of the final product"].
The production process in steelmaking with electric
arc furnace ( E A F ) method begins with charge of
preheated scrap. After melting and refining processes, the molten scrap is unloaded into a ladle and
subjected to secondary steelmaking operations in ladle furnace ( L F ) . This furnace is equipped with
process control and automatic charging system. The
LF is used for fully refining and alloying of the molten s t e e P .
LF unit in steelmaking process offers strong heating
functions, permits the addition of a large amount of
alloys, and enables precise temperature control. It
also provides functions of outstanding desulfurization by high temperature treatment through reducing
fluxes and the removal of deoxidation products.
In present study, heat losses from L F by conduction, convection and radiation are calculated and
obtained results are compared with measured values.
A good agreement between them is obtained. However, the energy transferred by argon gas is assumed
to be neglected. Moreover, this carried energy is about 5 800 MJ per ~a sti n$~].The temperatures for analysis are obtained from measured values in a firm.
6iography:Unal Carndali(1964-), Male, Doctor, Senior Expert,

The measures of temperatures are carried out by using thermocouples in the LF system.

1 Heat Loss from LF and Electrodes


In LF unit, the metallurgical fine adjustment is
performed by adding alloying material, and the temperature required for casting is provided by means of
electric powerC4].An AC ladle furnace unit is used
with a capacity of 150-180 t and the specific electric
consumption of 1. 1-1. 5 MJ t-'
eC-'c51.
The heat losses are calculated for considered LF
system hereinafter.
Heat lo& from LF wall by conduction
Although the main material of the L F is steel
shell, magnesite bricks are bonded on the inner surface of the L F as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2c6971.The
thermal properties and thickness of materials are
given in Table lc6971.
The general heat conduction at radial direction
( r direction) can be written as follows:
Q, =--kAIf-, ( dT/dr>
(1)
where Alf-,=ZxrL.
So, the heat conduction throughout LF wall,
Q,, , can be rewritten:
1.1

where Tinis inner temperature of brick, Tin=l 873 K ;

E-mail:u-camdaliBtkb. corn. trl

Revised Date:July 21, 2005

19

Steady State Heat Transfer of Ladle Furnace During Steel Production Process

No. 3

Schematic of cross section at LF bottom

Fig. 3

Table 2

Parameters of LF bottom

Substance

Llmm

r/mm

Ti./K

Magnesite brick

275

1 000

1 873

Steel shell

50

1000

TOut-"/K

303

where L m b , L,, are thickness of magnesite brick and


steel shell respectively, m.
Fig. 1 Schematic of ladle furnace

Heat loss from LF cover by conduction


By subtracting the area of electrode holes from
the overall area of L F top, the cover surface area can
be obtained, as shown in Fig. 4. Thereby, heat conduction can be written as follows:
1.3

Magnesite brick

Steel shell

where D is diameter of electrode, m.


The parameters in Eqn. ( 5 ) arec6*": r = l 000 mm,
D=355.6 mm, T i n = l 873 K , T,,,-,=303 K , Lmb=
75 mm, L,,=25 mm, and t=50 min.

Fig. 2 Schematic of cross section of LF wall


Table 1 Properties of LF wall materials
Substance

k/

(kJ * h-l

* m-l

K-I)

Heat loss by radiation from LF top


LF cover is opened occasionally due to charging
materials during the process. Heat is transferred by
radiation from LF to surroundings. This heat loss
from the L F cover can be calculated as follows:
1.4

Thickness/
mm

T /K

Magnesite brick

6. 7

230

1873

Steel shell

187

25

303

To,,-, is temperature of LF outer surface, To,,-,=


303 K ; L is height of LF, L = 2 825 mm; t is
process duration, t = 50 min; k , b , k,, are thermal
conductivity of magnesite brick and steel shell respectively; and Y is radius of LF wall materials.

Heat loss from LF bottom by conduction


LF bottom has the same materials with the
wall. L F bottom and the related parameters are given in Fig. 3 and Table 2c6'71.The heat conduction for
LF bottom is written as follows:
(3)
Qc= -kA1I-b (dT/dz >
where Alf-b=n?-*.
So, the heat conduction for the whole L F bottom, Q c b , is found to be

1.2

0)

i ... ......'...... ...


i

Fig. 4 Schematic of LF cover and electrodes holes

20

Q, =c7EAIr-I ( ?;" - E It
(6)
where TI is temperature of fluxes; Tois temperature
of surroundings;
is LF cover area, and
=
xr2 ; t is opening time of LF cover,
T h e parameters in Eqn. ( 6 ) are given as foll o w ~: ~a =~2 0' . ~4 1~2 X l o - * kJ rn-'
h-'
K-4,
~ = 0 . 4 , T r = l 873 K , T 0 = 2 9 8 K , r = l 000 mm,
and t=210 s.

Heat loss by convection from LF top cover during cover opening time
The heat transferred by convection from LF can
be calculated as follows:
Nu=c(Gr Pr)"=hL/k
(7)
where N u is Nusselt number; G r is Grashof number; P r is Prandtl number; h is heat transfer coefficient; c and m are constant and can be obtained in
Ref. [8] to Ref. [lo].
( 1) At the film temperature (arithmetic mean between- flux temperature and surrounding temperature)
Tril,=(T,+To)/2=1
085. 5 K
Using film temperature, values below can be obtained from Ref. [9] : v = 135. 6 X
m2 s-' ; k =
0.072 4 W m-'
I-'; Pr=O. 704; /I= 1/1 085.5
K-' ; Gr=g/?ATD3/v2 ~ 6 . X2 lo9 ; G r P r = 4 . 4 X
lo9. And c=O. 13 and m = 1 / 3 are obtained according to the G r * P r in Ref. [g] and Ref. [lo]. The
heat convection from liquid steel surface can be calculated using Eqn. (8).
QC=c(Gr P r ) " ( k / D ) ~ r ~ ( T , - T o ) t
(8)
where h = c ( G r P r ) " ( k / D ) = 7 . 7 W m-'
K-I.
1.5

1.6

Vol. 13

Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International

Heat loss by convection from electrodes


The dimensions of electrode are 355. 60 mm in

diameter ( D ) and 1 800 mm in length ( L ) , and its


surface temperature ( T , ) is 2 073 KC6-".
T ~ i ~ , = ( T , f T o ) / 2 = 9 1 2 . 5 ' C = l 185. 5 K
p=1/1 185.5 K-'

PQ=RT
( a Q / a T )=
, RIP
At the film temperature, ~ = 1 5 6 X l O - m2/s,
~
k=
0.077 W m-l
'C-' , and Pr=O. 706.
Using these values, then Grl- = 3. 52 X l o 9 ,
since D / L = 0. 197 and 35/Grl~"4 = 0. 1 4 ; D / L 3
(35/Gr1d"4) is valid, and c=O. 021 and m = 2 / 5 are
found depending on G r P r = 2.48 X lo9. Then, h
can be 5. 14 W m-'
C - ' , and t = 2 4 0 s. Total
heat convection from three electrodes during a
process can be calculated by Eqn. ( 9 ) :
Qc=hA ( T , - To) 3t
(9)

Heat loss by radiation from electrodes


Total heat loss by radiation can be calculated by
using Eqn. ( 1 0 1 for values under conditions of u =
20. 412 X lo-' kJ rn-'
h-'
K - 4 , E = O . 8 , L=
1 800 mm and t = 2 4 0 sC6-".
(10)
Q,=uEA, ( ?", - ?", )3t
where A, is surface area of electrode, and A. =xDL.
1.7

Results

The heat loss from the LF wall by conduction


can be obtained as 899 MJ/h. Since process duration
is 50 min, corresponding total heat conduction value
is 749 MJ.
Moreover, heat loss from the LF bottom by conduction is obtained to be 122 MJ/h. So, corresponding
total heat conduction value for a casting is 101 MJ.

1 400

212
-

1 000

n
749

p
6

287

184

200
0

101

LF lop by
convection

13

LF bottom by
conduction

Fig. 5

LF lop by
radiation

LF cover by

LF wall by

Conduction

conduction

Electrode
Electrode
by convection by radialion

Sources of heat losses from LF and electrodes

(Continued on Page 25)

Optimization of H o l d i n g T e m p e r a t u r e a n d H o l d i n g T h i c k n e s s for Controlled R o l l i n g on P l a t e Mill

No. 3

phase controlled rolling. In order to optimize the


rolling process, the online optimization of holding
temperature and holding thickness has been used for
one year. The properties and size precision of the
products meet the contract-required demands. At
the same time, the rolling process is more stable
than it is before.

Conclusions

(1) The holding thickness can be automatically obtained based on the influence of mill safety limits, tracking zone length and holding time on holding thickness.
( 2 ) The holding temperature can be automatically obtained and the holding time can be reduced.
( 3 ) For a steel grade, the temperature of controlled rolling is stable. But the slab size and product size have influence on rolling time and productivity of rolling mill. The algorithm can modify the
holding temperature and thickness.

(Continued from Page 20)


Similarly, heat loss
from LF cover by conduction is 287 MJ and heat loss
from L F top by radiation is 184 MJ. Heat convection
from fluxes surface in LF is 8 MJ.
Total heat convection from three electrodes during a
process is 13 MJ. Total heat radiation from electrodes is 1 212 MJ. Heat losses from L F and electrodes are shown in Fig. 5 . This study gives heat
losses from LF and electrodes in detail. So, it is different from the other studiesC""*'.

Conclusion

Although there are a lot of heat analysis researches


for EAF, there are few for LF. So present research
was carried out. The major heat losses are obtained
from LF by conduction at the furnace wall (749 MJ)
and from electrodes by radiation ( 1 212 MJ). It can
be seen that heat losses by conduction from LF cover
and bottom and by radiation from LF top have significant values from the viewpoint of consumed energy in the iron-steel units.
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25

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