2010 Volume 50 Issue 10 Pages 1413-1421
The paper focuses on the fundamental aspects of the fluid mechanics of unconstrained gas–liquid plumes relevant to Ladle Metallurgy Practice. A mathematical model previously proposed by the authors is justified by comparison with Eulerian–Lagrangian models. Further, a unified analytical framework is proposed to describe the fluid dynamic and similarity characteristics of two-phase plumes. Despite the apparent complexity of the system, the analysis demonstrates that the plume cross-sectional area, void fraction and gas and liquid velocities can be quantified in terms of two parameters: a dimensionless gas flow rate and the normalized axial height. The analysis clarifies the proper form of the Froude number similarity which is important for process design and scale-up.