Authors: X Liu JP Zhou HZ Shi YL Yang BQ Yang AM Hu ZH Du F Yuan YP Wang
Publish Date: 2008/10/03
Volume: 39, Issue: 5, Pages: 713-724
Abstract
The direct current DC furnace the earliest type of the electric arc furnace EAF was popularized at the end of the 1980s Even in its heyday there were always doubts about its superiority due to some imperfections of the DC furnace eg the problems of the bottom electrode system The watercooled billet electrode which is classified as one of the four types of the bottom electrodes has been in use for more than two decades However so far its melting mechanism has not been well understood A sophisticated numerical model was thus constructed by coupling the heat transfer and the fluid flow and taking into account the electromagnetic effect as well as the influence of the gap between the billet and the copper jacket The observed phenomena could readily be explained using the model The computed results show that the axial component of the electromagnetic force plays an essential role in driving the strong flow within the electrode hole and that the Joule effect does not contribute the majority of the heat taken away by cooling water An important conclusion is reached that there is a doubleedged effect by changing the billet diameter Accordingly a modification of the billet shape is suggested ie a diametervariable structure which should greatly assist in improving the thermal state of the billet
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