Characteristics of velocity pulsations in a turbulent recirculated melt flow

M. Kirpo¹ - A. Jakoviċs¹ - E. Baake²

¹ Laboratory for Mathematical Modeling of Environmental and Technological Processes, University of Latvia, 8 Zeļļu, Rīga, LV-1002, Latvia
² Institut für Elektrothermische Prozesstechnik, Universität Hannover, Wilhelm-Busch-Str. 4, 30167 Hannover, Germany

Abstract
For the modern industrial applications it is necessary to develop and investigate metallic and oxide materials of high purity or predicted composition. Such materials can be produced by the induction melting method, especially in inductor and cold crucible furnaces. Measurements taken in experimental furnaces show that the velocity pulsations dominate for the heat and mass exchange in the melt, especially in a zone between typical upper and lower eddies. Understanding of the pulsation mechanism and development of models to estimate the exchange characteristics are very important for the development and optimisation of industrial furnaces. The authors present experimental results and propose a simple 3D large eddy simulation (LES) model of the induction furnace that can be adapted to qualitative analysis of experimental data. Tables 2, Figs 13, Refs 7.