Transport Phenomena in Submerged Gas Injection

Submerged gas injection into melts contained in furnaces, ladles, or similar transfer vessels is commonly used in industrial practice. In this review paper, conditions leading to gas bubble formation at the nozzle are first summarized. The increasing gas injection rates and other conditions, such as nozzle size, lead to regimes which are commonly known as "bubbling" and "jetting". These are explained. The gas/melt interactions result in energy transfer to the melt. In recent years, a large number of researchers have investigated the relationships between the energy density and the mixing times. Their work is reviewed, and the mixing mechanisms is described. Finally, computational approaches of modeling submerged gas injection are briefly presented.