Nonintrusive Monitoring and Control of Metallurgical Processes by Acoustic Measurements

The feasibility of developing a new online monitoring technique based on the characteristic acoustic response of gas bubbles in a liquid has been investigated. The method is intended to monitor the chemistry of the liquid through its relation to the bubble sound frequency. A low-temperature model consisting of water and alcohol mixtures was established, and the frequency of bubbles rising under varying concentrations of methanol was measured. It was shown that the frequency of the sound created by bubble pulsation varies with the percentage of alcohol in water. The frequency drops sharply with the increase in methanol content up to 20 wt pct, after which the decreases is gradual. Surface tension seems to be a critical liquid property affecting the sound frequency through its two-fold effects on the bubble size and the pulsation domain. The dependence between the frequency and the liquid composition suggests the feasibility of developing an acoustic-based technique for process control purposes.