Abstract

We have numerically studied the fluid dynamic effects on water in a converter-shaped vessel of air injection from a submerged tuyere. The time dependent and three dimensional simulations of the bi-phase system were carried out using the volume of fluid (VOF) and the standard k-epsilon turbulence models implemented in the commercial solver Fluent. Experimental observation of the phenomena were carried out in a water tank. We have also calculated the standing waves on the surface of a liquid solving the wave equation for potential flow. We study the influence of air inlet velocity on bath dynamic which produced the most favorable results with respect to good mixing in the bath, and minimum splashing. We have found out, that by increasing the Fronde number based on tuyere diameter from 10.8 to 13.1 the undesirable fluid splashing can be diminish, however with Fronde numbers of 15.7 and 18.4 the splashing was again important. (C) 2004 Elsevier Science Ltd.