Spout Eyes Formed by an Emerging Gas Plume at the Surface of a Slag-Covered Metal Melt

This article deals with the spout eyes developing, at the surface of a metal melt, in the ladle during argon stirring. Cold model experiments involving a mercury bath with an oil layer as slag and industrial experiments on a 350 t steel ladle have been carried out. The eye geometry as measured with a video technique is highly dynamic. The time average of the free surface area and the time fraction of complete coverage have been determined and are represented with dimensionless correlations.