Mathematical Modeling of the Melting Rate of Metallic Particles in the Electric Arc Furnace

A computational fluid dynamics model coupled to a lagrangian model of melting/solidifying particles has been developed to describe the melting kinetics of metallic particles in an industrial Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), assuming that liquid steel occupies the entire computational domain. The metallic particles represent Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). The use of two previous models, an arc model and a fluid flow model has made possible to evaluate the melting rate of injected DRI in a three phase-EAF, evaluating the influence of the initial particle size, the initial DRI temperature, feeding position, feeding rate, arc length and some of the metallurgical properties of DRI. The frozen shell formed in the early stage of the melting process has also been evaluated in this model.