Physical modeling of bubble behaviors in molten steel under high pressure

Abstract A water model was adopted to conduct an experimental study on the physical modeling of bubble behaviors and the effects of vessel pressure intensity, nozzle aperture diameter, bottom blowing location and bottom blowing flow rate on bubble properties were analyzed. Experimental results show that with the increase in vessel pressure intensity, the bubble breaking distance is shortened, the size is decreased, the number is increased, the degree of deformation in the rising process becomes smaller, and the fluctuation range of liquid level becomes small; in addition, the diameter of bubbles breaking away from the nozzle decreases. With the increase of bottom blowing aperture diameter, the average diameter of bubbles on the liquid level gets bigger and the number of bubbles decreases; moreover, the size of bubbles breaking away from the nozzle increases, their shape tends to be oval, and the time from bubble formation to bubble breaking is longer. With the increase of bottom blowing flow rate, the bubble breaking distance gets long, the size and number of bubbles increase, the bubble shape tends to be oval, and the impact force on the liquid level becomes larger. The greater the pressure intensity of the vessel, the closer the bottom blowing position is to the center, and the smaller the average diameter of bubbles.