Splashing in Oxygen Steelmaking

In oxygen steelmaking, splashing from the injection of oxygen plays an important role in the kinetics of the process. Though waves inside the cavity and formation of various modes (i.e. dimpling, splashing, and penetrating) have been investigated in the past, it is not clearly understood how these wave behaviour affects splashing. Therefore, in the present work, a cold model experimental study has been carried to establish if it was possible to quantitatively identify various modes of cavity. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on cavity depth oscillation showed that amplitude and frequency of cavity oscillation is highest in penetrating mode. Important aspects of the droplet generation process were identified from high speed imaging. Formation of sheet structure was identified and the height of these structures above the bath surface were found to decline as the cavity mode changed from splashing to penetrating. Existence of the splash sheets emphasizes that the sampling position can be a crucial issue in interpreting plant studies.