Vibration analysis of ladle gas stirring using cold model and plant data

In ladle metallurgy, bottom inert gas stirring is usually evaluated by assessing the level of meniscus disturbance and bubbling sound. However, this type of monitoring has significant limitations in process optimization. The present study investigates stirring phenomena using ladle wall vibration at a low flow rate on a laboratory and plant scale for vacuum tank degasser. Cold model and plant data were successfully modeled by partial least square regression to predict the amount of stirring. In the cold model, it was found that the combined vibration signal could predict the stirring power and recirculation speed effectively in specific frequency ranges. Plant trials also revealed that there are high structure and linear relationships in the same frequency ranges of the cold model study.