Numerical Simulation of Ladle Bottom Argon Purging in the LF Refining Process

By removing the inclusion in molten steel, the ladle bottom argon purging in LF refining process is an important method for improving the cleanliness of steel. In this paper, in order to quickly and low cost get the optimized blowing argon flow rate, the numerical simulation of argon bottom blowing was carried out by using fluid analysis software FLUENT. The results show that the gas flow would forme a closed circulation area at the appropriate blowing argon flow rate. With the blowing argon flow rate increasing from 10 Nm³/h to 30 Nm³/h, the average turbulent kinetic energy and the average argon flow velocity improve significantly, and the stagnation zone volume rate in steel drops from 21% to 6%. Further increasing the blowing argon flow rate beyond the key value of 30 Nm³/h, the stagnation zone volume rate doesn’t change obviously, but the utilization rate of argon gas would decrease. The results suggest that the optimized blowing argon flow rate is 30 Nm³/h, in which the steel liquid has a large agitation strength and stirring area with the maximum fluidity average turbulent kinetic energy, the fastest average argon flow velocity and the smallest stagnation zone volume rate.