Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Deformation of a Liquid Aluminum Free Surface Covered by an Oxide Layer Durin
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ALUMINUM alloy processing in an induction melting furnace is an established industrial practice. Based on the principles of electromagnetics, an induction furnace allows non-intrusive heating and stirring of the metal bath. Equilibrium between the electromagnetic force, the hydrodynamic pressure, the gravitational force, and the surface tension force leads the bath free surface to deform and attain the shape of a dome. A very small oxygen partial pressure (~1050 Atm)[1] is sufficient to oxidize partially if not completely, an aluminum alloy bath surface. Since the induction melting often takes place under atmospheric conditions, the surface is instantaneously covered by an oxide layer. Numerical modeling is an efficient tool which helps analyze and predict the different phenomena involved in such processes. Bojarevics and Pericleous[2] reviewed some modeling techniques for the induction melting and stirring process. The stirring of the liquid metal in an AKSHAY BANSAL, Ph.D. Student, PIERRE CHAPELLE, CNRS Research Scientist, and JEAN PIERRE BELLOT, Professor, are with the Institut Jean Lamour, UMR 7198, Universite´ de Lorraine/ CNRS - LabEx DAMAS, CS 50840, Parc de Saurupt, 54011 Nancy Cedex, France. Contact e-mail: [email protected] YVES DELANNOY, Professor, is with the Laboratory SIMaP, University Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, France. EMMANUEL WAZ and PIERRE LE BRUN, R&D Engineers, are with the Constellium Technology Center, CS 10027, 38341 Voreppe Cedex, France. Manuscript submitted May 13, 2015. Article published online July 9, 2015. 2096—VOLUME 46B, OCTOBER 2015
induction furnace, which is often turbulent in nature, was modeled for example by El Kaddah et al.[3] who used the k–e model. Baake et al.[4] and Courtessole and Etay[5] used the k–e RNG model, in order to improve upon k–e model accuracy. On the other hand, Umbrashko et al.[6] employed the k–x turbulence model and also performed Large Eddy Simulations (LES) to model the turbulent flow and advise its use to correctly simulate the heat and mass transfer between various recirculation zones inside a metal bath. More recently, Spitans et al.[7] and Scepanskis et al.[8] used the k–x SST turbulence model to simulate a laboratory scale as well as an industrial scale furnace. A key aspect of the process simulation is the numerical prediction of the liquid metal free surface deformation. It was discussed by Nakata and Etay[9] as well as by Zhu et al.,[10] who used the magneto-hydrostatic approximation, where only the gravitational forces, the electromagnetic forces and the surface tension forces are assumed to be in equilibrium at the free surface. Pesteanu and Baake[11] on the other hand incorporated the hydrodynamic pressure term while treating the free surface deformation and used a variant of Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method to predict the deformation. It must be noted that a oneway coupling between the electromagnetics and the hydrodynamics was considered in the numerical models described by the above authors, whereby the Lorentz forces generated
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