Simplified melting rate correlation for radioactive waste vitrification in electric furnaces

A recently proposed glass melting rate correlation (MRC) equation expresses an essential relationship between the melting rate and material and process variables (melt viscosity, cold-cap bottom temperature, feed-to-glass conversion heat, melter operating temperature, and bubbling flux). It agreed well with data for high-level waste (HLW) melter feeds processed in an electric melter. However, the nonlinear form and four coefficients made the original MRC somewhat cumbersome for representing existing data sets. Introducing new variables (glass melt density and depth of melt pool) makes the new MRC more broadly applicable. Also, reducing the number of coefficients to two simplifies it substantially. The simplified generalized MRC demonstrates good agreement with an extended data set encompassing additional melter feeds and melter sizes.