Bath Vibration During Open Eye Formation in a Physical Model of a Steelmaking Ladle

Secondary metallurgy allows precise adjustment of steel's chemical composition and temperature prior to casting. Alloying typically uses lumpy material or wire fed through an open eye in the slag layer formed by bottom gas injection to enhance mixing efficiency. However, visual observation of the open eye is often limited, particularly during vacuum tank degassing. To overcome this challenge, the present study examines vibration measurements as indirect indicators of gas stirring efficiency and open eye behavior, using a 1:5 scale physical model of a 150‐ton steelmaking ladle. The results indicate that vibration magnitude—defined as the root mean square (RMS) of acceleration—and open eye area, along with their variances, increased with higher air flow rates. Vibration responses generally stabilized faster than the open eye, except above 5 kHz in the vessel's lower region. Although limiting the frequency bandwidth to 0–6.0 kHz slightly reduced prediction accuracy compared to the full 0–12.8 kHz range, it still produced satisfactory results. Notably, open eye size was reliably predicted using vibration data alone, independent of flow rate measurements. The highest prediction performance was achieved using vibration data from accelerometer locations Acc5 and Acc6 within the 0–6.0 kHz range, and from Acc2 and Acc5 within the 0–12.8 kHz bandwidth.