Study on inclusion removal in two-strand tundish with gas curtain considering bubble-inclusion attachment

Application of a gas curtain is one of the main means to improve the cleanliness of liquid steel in tundish. In particular, the bubble-inclusion attachment is one of the important ways to remove inclusions, which cannot be ignored. The bubble size and gas flow are the main parameters of the gas curtain. In this paper, the Euler–Lagrange–Lagrange approach is used to study the three-phase interaction behaviour of liquid steel, bubble, and inclusion. The effects of inclusion size, bubble diameter, and gas flow on inclusion removal rate were studied with normal continuous casting conditions. The calculation results show that the cleanliness of molten steel can be improved by replacing the dam with a gas curtain. In the range of gas flow rate from 1.35 to 2.15 Nm3 h−1, the removal rate of bubble-inclusion attachment and total inclusion removal rate increase with the increase of gas flow. In the range of diameter from 4.5 mm to 6.0 mm with the same gas flow, the total removal rate and bubble-inclusion attachment removal rate increase with the bubble size decrease. The results provide a reference for improving the cleanliness of molten steel by properly increasing the gas flow and reducing the bubble size in industrial operations.