COLD MODELLING INVESTIGATION

ON LIQUID STEEL TRANSFER

OPERATIONS

BY
A.MUPPIDATHI SATHESH
C.P.AKASH
CONTENTS
 PHYSICAL MODEELING
 SIMILARITIES
 VORTEX FORMATION
 FACTOR INFLUENCING VORTEX FORMATION
 MECHANISM OF VORTEX FORMATION
 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
 PROCEDURES
 CONCLUSION
PHYSICAL MODELLING
 This is the replica of actual industrial unit in steel producing.
 Physical models are built with perspex sheet and it uses water
to represent molten steel and oil to represent slag.
 It is used in analysis of liquid metal flow and mass transfer in
coverter,ladle and tundishes etc….
 It is divided into two types
 1.Cold modelling,
 2.High temperature modelling.
SIMILARITIES
 1.Goemetrical similarities: It is based on similarities of shape.
Two bodies are said to be similar when every point in one
body is corresponding to other, so they are called as a
goemetrically similar.
 2.Mechnaical similarities: It deals with forces, velocity and
momentum. There are three categories in mechanical
similarity they are 1. Static similarity, 2. Dynamic similarity,
3. Kinematic similarity.
 3. Thermal similarities
 4. Chemical similarities
VORTEX FORMATION
 Vortexing funnel is a funnel shape vortex which causes
entrapment of slag layer. The funnel formation effects can be
analyzed by experiment conducted by physical models where
water is used instead of steel. The vortex formation is due to
angular momentum conservation. The formation of vortex is
due to the presence of turbulent at the start of teeming process.
The tangential velocity increase when the distance between
the surface of liquid and the bottom of ladle decreases so
when it reaches the critical value the dimple is forms, and this
dimple extends towards the nozzle and a fully developed
vortex form at the critical height. The main reason for vortex
funnel formation is initial turbulence.
FACTOR INFLUENCING VORTEX
FORMATION
 INITIAL TURBULANCE
 ECCENTRICITY OF NOZZLE
 NOZZLE DIAMETER
 HEIGHT OF WATER IN LADLE
 DWELL TIME
 MECHANISM OF VORTEX
FORMATION
 The two different mechanism of vortex formation is
vortex sink and drain sink.
 VORTEX SINK: It is characterized by high tangential

velocity in nozzle and turbulence at the start of teeing

and discharge nozzle at center of ladle.
 DRAIN SINK: It is due to presence of radial flow and

develops in last stage of teeming process, and it does

not depend the previous formation of vortex.
VORTEX SINK DRAIN SINK
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
CONT…
 The Prototype of ladle is made up of perspex sheet and
the dimension is reduced to 1/7 which is of height 62
cm and 40 cm diameter.
 The water in the ladle was filled with axial mode of

filling throughout the experiment.

 The different nozzle used was square, circle, pentagon,

triangle and hexagon.

PROCEDURE FOR FINDING
DIMPLE AND VORTEX HEIGHT
 Scale downed industrial ladle is made up of Perspex sheet.
  The ladle was filled with the water to the height of 60cm with

the flow rates 20 and 40(m3/s).

  Then allow the water to make stable by giving different dwell

time of 30 and 90 seconds.

  After dwell time the nozzle is opened and the water in the ladle

is allowed to drain completely.

  The height of dimple and the vortex is recorded by use of ruler.
  The process is repeated for different nozzle geometry.
  This procedure is repeated twice for each geometry of nozzle

and the average value is taken as its height.

PROCEDURE FOR DRAIN CURVE
 Scale downed industrial ladle is made up of Perspex sheet.
  The ladle was filled with the water to the height of 60cm with the

flow rates 20 and 40(m3/s).

  Then allow the water to make stable by giving different dwell time

of 30 and 90 seconds.
  After dwell time the nozzle is opened and the water in the ladle is

allowed to drain completely.

  Then for each 5mm the decrease in the water height with its time

for draining is noted by use of ruler and stop watch respectively.

  From the noted value the drain curve is drawn between time in x

axis and liquid height in the y axis.

CONCLUSION
 Total draining time decreases with increase in dwell time,
because after vortex formation the draining time increase.
 Total draining time increase with increase in flow rate.
 The vortex height and dimple formation height decreases with
increase in dwell time and increases with increase in flow rate
except pentagon and hexagon nozzle in which the vortex and
dimple height decreases with increase in flow rate.
 The vortex formation height is lower for circle geometrical
nozzle and it is best suited for industrial ladle teeming
operation.