Simulation of Scrap Melting Process in an AC Electric Arc Furnace: CFD Model Development and Experimental Validation

The electric arc furnace (EAF) is a critical steelmaking facility that melts the scrap by the heat produced from electric arc and burners. Simulation and optimization of EAF scrap melting are of great interest to the steel industry, which helps to improve product quality and production efficiency. However, the relevant computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of this process has not been reported so far. The present study established a three-dimensional (3D) integrated CFD model to simulate the scrap melting process in the alternating current (AC) EAF. The scrap melting model was developed to simulate the dynamic scrap melting and collapse based on the dual-cell approach and the stack approach. The electric arc model and the coherent jet model were introduced and integrated with the scrap melting model to estimate the electrical and chemical energy inputs need for melting. The CFD-compatible Monte Carlo method and electrode regulation strategy were developed respectively to predict the arc radiative heat dissipation and track the instant electrode movement. The experiments for the scrap melting by both electric arc and coherent jet burner were designed and implemented in the industry-scale NLMK 150-ton EAF for the model validation. The proposed model was applied to simulate the scrap melting process under the NLMK EAF typical run, and the scrap melting behavior, the electric arc performance, and the burner performance were evaluated and discussed based on the simulation results.