PhD position “Simulation of oxygen blowing in electric arc furnace (EAF) steel manufacturing”

Practical information

• Research group: Multiphysics and Turbulent Flow Computation (MTFC), University of Liège, Belgium
• Supervisor: Prof. Vincent Terrapon (www.mtfc.uliege.be)
• Duration: 4 years, starting on September 2024
• Project: Walloon Region project “LANCE” labeled by the MecaTech Cluster, in collaboration with Soudobeam s.a., Aperam, the University of Mons and the CRM Group
• Position: full time employment as research engineer
• Salary & benefits: in accordance with the regulation at the University of Liège
• Application: by email to vincent.terrapon@uliege.be

Description

Driven by environmental constraints, the traditional steel manufacturing process based on blast furnace (BF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) is expected to be increasingly replaced by the electric arc furnace (EAF) route, in which the scrap metal is heated by means of an electric arc. However, the EAF process is not yet fully mature and improvements in efficiency and productivity are still required. A major lever in this respect is the optimization of the combined oxygen – fuel blowing lance. The main role of this lance is to blow oxygen at supersonic speed onto the melt to stir and decarbonate it. The lance is also typically combined with fuel-oxygen burners to provide additional, more uniform, heating of the molten metal. As such, the process is characterized by a very complex physics, involving supersonic flows, different phases, chemical reactions, heat transfer, etc.

The objective of this PhD project is to optimize the lance through numerical simulations of oxygen blowing in EAF steel manufacturing. In particular, the successful candidate will have to

• perform RANS simulations of the oxygen jet and flame, and of their interaction with the molten metal bath (jet penetration, surface displacement, oxygen fluxes),
• evaluate the impact of the main design parameters and operation conditions on key control parameters of the process,
• derive empirical correlations between these parameters and main quantities of interest to enable rapid customer-specific adaptation of the lance.

The work will be done in close collaboration with the other project partners.

Your profile

We are seeking applications of highly motivated candidates, holding a master’s degree in engineering or physics, with a strong background in fluid dynamics, computational physics, or related subject areas, and a keen interest in simulations of multiphysics problems. Experience with CFD and the open-source software OpenFOAM is advantageous. We encourage a high degree of responsibility and independence, but also a willingness to collaborate. Excellent communication skills and proficiency in spoken and written English are highly valued.