Fluid flow and bath temperature destratification in gas-stirred ladles

The transient fluid flow and temperature distributions in argon-stirred ladles have been investigated. The governing equations of unsteady fluid flow and energy were solved numeri-cally with a control-volume technique, while the turbulence was modeled by the two-equationk- ∃ model. The two-phase zone was described by novel experimental equations, which char-acterize the gas-fraction distribution in the bath for a wide range of variables in both aqueous and liquid metal systems. Fully transient computational results are presented and compared against transient temperature computations based on a steady-state velocity field. The resulting mixing times compare closely with industrial experience.