Numerical Prediction and Experimental Verification of Thermal Stratification during Holding in Pilot Plant and Production Ladles

摘要

A 3-dimensional CFD-model has been developed to simulated the natural convection flow in ladles. Qualified measurements of temperature and velocities in 107 tonne ladles have been made to verify the model. The downward convection flow at the ladle wall has been studied using radioactive isotopes and the thermal stratification has been studied by means of continuous temperature measurements. The experimental techniques are complex and additional numerical simulations have been carried out to study the effect of the measurement technique on the measurements error. The result indicates that the measurements are of sufficient accuracy for the validation. The measurements are compared to predictions form the numerical model. The main conclusion is that the theoretical CFD model gives a very accurate estimation of the temperature distribution during holding.