Detailed Modeling of Radiative Heat Transfer in Electric Arc Furnaces Using Monte Carlo Techniques

In an EAF, most of the energy transferred from the arc to the steel occurs via radiative heat transfer. Therefore, the development of a model that accurately describes this phenomena is key to understand the dynamics of the metal’s melting process. Despite its importance, radiation mechanisms have been underestimated in studies using parameter-estimation techniques and in those that assuming simplified geometries avoid dealing with shadings and blockages in view-lines. In this work, we propose a novel first principles model that for the first time explicitly considers the electrode’s surfaces, view-lines blockages, and shading effects. Radiative exchanges are modeled as a linear resistive circuit that dynamically changes in topology and that rely on Monte-Carlo algorithms for the calculation of view-factors. Numerical results were validated against process data and errors were contained to 5% in terms of melting time, energy consumption, and liquid steel temperature.