Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling of Multiphase Flows in a Side-Blown Furnace: Effects of Air Injection and Nozzle Submerged Depth

Abstract

The side-blown smelting process is becoming popular in the modern metallurgical industry due to its large potential for dealing with complex materials. To further enhance its efficiency, it is essential to comprehensively understand the complex gas–liquid flow behavior in the smelting bath. In this study, the volume-of-fluid method is employed to establish computational fluid dynamics modeling on a 1:5 scaled model of a side-blown furnace. The simulation was validated against the experimental results. Notably, the influences of the nozzle’s submerged depth, injection velocity, and angle were systematically investigated. The results show that increasing the injection velocity from 29.44 to 58.88 m/s resulted in 52.97%, 116.67%, 500.00%, and 5.88% increases in the interface area, liquid velocity, liquid turbulent kinetic energy, and gas penetration depth, respectively. The maximum gas–liquid interface area, gas penetration depth, velocity, and turbulence of the liquid were found at an injection angle of 30°. Furthermore, increasing the submerged depth increased the interface area and the velocity of the liquid but decreased the turbulent kinetic energy of the liquid. Overall, increasing the injection velocity is considered a more effective measure to strengthen the smelting intensity.