Numerical Investigation of the Inner Profiles in Ironmaking Blast Furnace: Effect of the Ratio of Belly Diameter to Effective Height

• Published in: Steel research international Vol. 95; no. 2
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xinyang, Jiao, Lulu, Li, Junjie, Kuang, Shibo, Yu, Aibing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2024
• Subjects: blast furnaces; Coke oven gas; computational fluid dynamics; dumpinesses; Energy utilization; Gas pressure; Height; Ironmaking; numerical simulations; Pressure drop; Productivity; profile optimizations; Thermal energy; Thermal utilization
• ISSN: 1611-3683; 1869-344X
• DOI: 10.1002/srin.202300420

The elaborate and appropriate design of blast furnace (BF) inner profile is indispensable. In practice, in this work, dumpiness, quantified by the ratio of belly diameter to effective height (RD–H), primarily determines the inner profile and significantly affects the BF performance. However, the effects of RD–H on BF operation are not investigated thoroughly, and an optimal range of RD–H is not yet proposed. In this work, a numerical study on this topic is presented to recommend an RD–H range for BF designers. This is achieved by using a recently developed 3D multi‐fluid BF process model based on a 380 m3 industrial BF. In the results, it is shown that both too slender and too dumpy BFs do not favor BF production. Excessively slender BF leads to a dramatic increase in gas pressure drop; however, the saving of coke or the improvement of productivity is insignificant. In contrast, excessively dumpy BF leads to a dramatic increase in coke rate and a significant decrease in productivity. Under the current conditions, the recommended dumpiness exists in the value of RD–H at around 0.35, where a low coke rate, low gas pressure drop, high productivity, and high thermal energy utilization are all ensured. In this work, the effect of dumpiness on the performance of ironmaking blast furnace (BF) with a recently developed 3D parallel BF process model is numerically investigated. In the results, the optimal ratio of belly diameter to effective height value range under the fixed BF effective volume (380 m3), which provides guidance for BF profile design and optimization, is recommended.