Thermal Analysis of Blast Furnace Stave Cooling

Abstract

The blast furnace is a metallurgical device which is used to produce molten metal, especially iron. Thus, it is subjected to high temperature inside the furnace during the operations. Cooling is necessary to maintain the safe temperature limit inside the blast furnace for proper functioning and better service life. The primary purpose of the cooling system is to cool the furnace shell and prevent it from overheating and subsequent burn through. The cooling system removes the excess heat generated in the furnace which is otherwise loaded on the shell. For the blast furnace cooling Stave cooling is used for heat transfer. In paper 3-Dimensional heat transfer analysis of blast furnace stave cooling is modeled and analyzed in FEV software ANSYS Fluent®. Different types of stave material cast steel, cast iron and aluminium is chosen for analysis of stave cooling. Similarly, the various refractory lining is also taken into account. The Modelled is analyzed for temperature profile, Heat dissipation and stress distribution inside the furnaces. The various factors affecting the cooling phenomenon is also analysed and observed. The Numerical results collaborate with experimental data obtained from Local steel plant at Rourkela.