CFD Analysis of Influence of Slag Viscosity on the Splashing Process in an Oxygen Steelmaking Converter

Physical properties of molten slag such as viscosity, density and surface tension have a significant influence on the slag splashing process in an oxygen steelmaking converter. Particularly, viscosity determines the shear forces that rule droplets formation. Besides, stirring of the molten slag bath strongly depends on this property. In this work, the influence of viscosity on the efficiency of slag splashing is explored by means of transient Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. Several values of viscosity are employed in the computer experiments. In order to quantify the splashing efficiency as function of slag viscosity, an average slag fraction on the converter walls is defined and calculated. CFD results are compared with those of an empirical expression, and at least qualitative agreement is found.