A heat transfer model for the analysis of transient heating of the slab in a direct-fired walking beam type reheating furnace

A mathematical heat transfer model for the prediction of heat flux on the slab surface and temperature distribution in the slab has been developed by considering the thermal radiation in the furnace chamber and transient heat conduction governing equations in the slab, respectively. The furnace is modeled as radiating medium with spatially varying temperature and constant absorption coefficient. The steel slabs are moved on the next fixed beam by the walking beam after being heated up through the non-firing, charging, preheating, heating, and soaking zones in the furnace. Radiative heat flux calculated from the radiative heat exchange within the furnace modeled using the FVM by considering the effect of furnace wall, slab, and combustion gases is introduced as the boundary condition of the transient conduction equation of the slab. Heat transfer characteristics and temperature behavior of the slab is investigated by changing such parameters as absorption coefficient and emissivity of the slab. Comparison with the experimental work show that the present heat transfer model works well for the prediction of thermal behavior of the slab in the reheating furnace.     

Comparisons of different heat transfer models of a walking beam type reheat furnace

Four different heat transfer models (Model-1 to -4) for the prediction of temperature of the slabs of a walking beam type reheat furnace have been compared. The models are classified based on the solution methodology and simplifications. In the first three models (Model-1 to -3), the furnace is modelled as radiating medium with spatially varying known temperature. Model-1 solves the 3D transient conduction in the slab and radiation in the furnace separately and is coupled via the boundary condition. In the second model, both radiation in the furnace and conduction in the slab are solved simultaneously. A user defined function (UDF) programme has been developed to process the movement of the slabs. Model-3 is similar to Model-2 but it includes additionally the skid support systems for the slabs. In the Model-4, convection in the furnace has been included in addition to all the features considered in Model-3. The convection has been modelled with the consideration of flow of hot gas through the inlet of the burners. All the models have been compared for their performance and computational time. Model-1 has been found to be quite economical and accurate. The inclusion of skid supporting system has little effect in the temperature distribution in the slab.     

Transient radiative heating characteristics of slabs in a walking beam type reheating furnace

Transient radiative heating characteristics of slabs in a walking beam type reheating furnace is predicted by the finite-volume method (FVM) for radiation. The FVM can calculate the radiative intensity absorbed and emitted by hot gas as well as emitted by the wall with curvilinear geometry. The non-gray weighted sum of gray gas model (WSGGM) which is more realistic than the gray gas model is used for better accurate prediction of gas radiation. The block-off procedure is applied to the treatment of the slabs inside which intensity has no meaning. Entire domain is divided into eight sub-zones to specify temperature distribution, and each sub-zone has different temperatures and the same species composition. Temperature field of a slab is acquired by solving the transient 3D heat conduction equation. Incident radiation flux into a slab is used for the boundary condition of the heat conduction equation governing the slab temperature. The movement of the slabs is taken into account and calculation is performed during the residence time of a slab in the furnace. The slab heating characteristics is also investigated for the various slab residence times. Main interest of this study is the transient variation of the average temperature and temperature non-uniformity of the slabs.     

Efficiency analysis of radiative slab heating in a walking-beam-type reheating furnace

The thermal efficiency of a reheating furnace was predicted by considering radiative heat transfer to the slabs and the furnace wall. The entire furnace was divided into fourteen sub-zones, and each sub-zone was assumed to be homogeneous in temperature distribution with one medium temperature and wall temperature, which were computed on the basis of the overall heat balance for all of the sub-zones. The thermal energy inflow, thermal energy outflow, heat generation by fuel combustion, heat loss by the skid system, and heat loss by radiation through the boundary of each sub-zone were considered to give the two temperatures of each sub-zone. The radiative heat transfer was solved by the FVM radiation method, and a blocked-off procedure was applied to the treatment of the slabs. The temperature field of a slab was calculated by solving the transient heat conduction equation with the boundary condition of impinging radiation heat flux from the hot combustion gas and furnace wall. Additionally, the slab heating characteristics and thermal behavior of the furnace were analyzed for various fuel feed conditions.     

A numerical analysis of slab heating characteristics in a walking beam type reheating furnace

Numerical analysis of slab heating characteristics in a reheating furnace has been accomplished using FLUENT, a commercial software. The phenomena in the furnace are periodically transient because the slabs are transported toward a rolling mill with every time interval controlled. Unsteady calculation has been performed to obtain a periodically transient solution. A User-Defined Function (UDF) program has been developed to process the movement of slabs because FLUENT cannot handle the movement using its default functions. When the mean temperature of a slab emitted to the rolling mill does not change, calculation is considered to have converged and is stopped. This convergence criterion is appropriate for achieving an analytical solution. With the boundary and initial conditions given, over 55 new slabs are inserted to get a converged solution. Skid posts and beams are included in the calculation because they disturb radiation heat transfer from hot combustion gas to the slabs. This article examines what the slabs experience in the furnace before they are emitted to the rolling mill and whether a slab emitted to the rolling mill satisfies the required slab conditions, such as target temperature and skid severity.     

THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE WALKING-BEAM-TYPE SLAB REHEATING FURNACE IN HOT STRIP MILLS

Three-dimensional analysis is performed for the turbulent reactive flow and radiative heat transfer in the walking-beam-type slab reheating furnace by FLUENT. A simplified burner is validated against the results of the actual burner with the detailed grid resolution to avoid an excessive number of grids. The predicted temperature distribution in the furnace and global energy flow fractions are in reasonable agreement with available data. Distribution of the heat flux to the slabs, velocity vectors, and all major scalar variables in the furnace also are predicted. This study shows that three-dimensional analysis may be a useful tool to understand quantitatively the complicated combustion and heat transfer characteristics in the furnace.     

Estimation of slab surface radiative emissivities by solving an inverse coupled conduction,convection, and radiation problem

Slab surface radiative emissivities severely affect the radiative heat transfer in a reheating furnace, as well as the slabs’ coupled conduction, convection, and radiation. Accurate evaluation of these parameters is of significance to ensure the high accuracy of the mathematical model for a reheating furnace, which is beneficial to the energy saving. However, it is difficult to directly and accurately measure these parameters. In this article, slab surface radiative emissivities in a reheating furnace are estimated by solving a nonlinear inverse problem, which is an inverse coupled conduction, convection, and radiation problem. An efficient and accurate gradient method, i.e., Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, is applied to obtain the solution of the inverse problem. First, a finite difference method and the complex-variable-differentiation method are used for sensitivity analysis, and the inversion accuracy coupled with the efficiency is demonstrated. Then, effects of initial guesses, measurement errors, and measurement locations on estimated slab surface radiative emissivities are investigated in detail. Finally, conclusions are drawn based on the results and analysis.     

Novel Approach to Estimate the Optimum Zone Fuel Mass Flow Rates for a Walking Beam Type Reheating Furnace

Three-dimensional numerical simulation is performed to predict the heat transfer performance in a walking-beam reheating furnace. The furnace uses a mixture of coke oven gas as a heat source to reheat the slabs. The fuel is injected into the furnace at four zones: preheating zone, first heating zone, second heating zone, and soaking zone. This numerical model considers turbulent reactive flow coupled with radiative heat transfer in the furnace; meanwhile, the conductive heat transfer dominates the energy balance inside the slabs. An initial iterative method is proposed to estimate the fuel mass flow rate at each zone of the reheating furnace, while the required heating curve of the slabs is specified. In addition, a simplified two-dimensional numerical model is performed to estimate the fuel mass flow rate for the consideration of computational time consummation. The results of the two-dimensional numerical simulations are compared with those of three-dimensional numerical simulation and the in situ data. Furthermore, velocity and temperature distributions are examined for two cases under different heating curves of the slabs.     

Investigation of the slab heating characteristics in a reheating furnace with the formation and growth of scale on the slab surface

In this work, the development of a mathematical heat transfer model for a walking-beam type reheating furnace is described and preliminary model predictions are presented. The model can predict the heat flux distribution within the furnace and the temperature distribution in the slab throughout the reheating furnace process by considering the heat exchange between the slab and its surroundings, including the radiant heat transfer among the slabs, the skids, the hot combustion gases and the furnace wall as well as the gas convection heat transfer in the furnace. In addition, present model is designed to be able to predict the formation and growth of the scale layer on the slab in order to investigate its effect on the slab heating. A comparison is made between the predictions of the present model and the data from an in situ measurement in the furnace, and a reasonable agreement is found. The results of the present simulation show that the effect of the scale layer on the slab heating is considerable.     

A simple solution for transient heat transfer during heating of a slab product

A theoretical and experimental study of transient heat transfer in the heating of an individual slab product, subjected to an air flow at a temperature of 50°C and a velocity of 1 m/s, is presented. Experimental temperature measurements at the centre of the slab product were made, and the experimental heat-transfer rates were derived from the temperature data. A simplified analytical technique, using the boundary condition of the third kind in transient heat transfer, was used to predict the theoretical heat transfer rates for two cases, the first considering that the heat transfer coefficient is a convective heat transfer coefficient, and the second considering that heat transfer coefficient is the sum of the convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients. The experimental heat-transfer rates were compared with the predictions for two cases, and a very good agreement was obtained.     

处理辐射传热的一个新热流数学模型

本文从处理辐射传热的基本理论出发，给出了一个包含与辐射发射随机方向性有关的比热流参数的新热流模型。该模型克服了原热流模型在理论简化上的缺陷，能够更好地反映炉内的实际情况。同时给出了用Ｍｏｎｔｅ－Ｃａｒｌｏ方法求解比热流参数的计算程序。最后用该模型求解了实验室用马弗炉内的温度分布，同时用原热流法对该高温炉的温度分布进行了计算，与实验结果相比较，新热流方程明显优于原热流方程。     

Radiative slab heating analysis for various fuel gas compositions in an axial-fired reheating furnace

A transient radiative slab heating analysis was performed to investigate the effect of various fuel mixtures on the performance of an axial-fired reheating furnace. The various fuel mixtures tested were assumed to be attained by mixing COG (coke oven gas) and BFG (blast furnace gas), which are the two main byproduct gases found in the integrated steel mill industry. The numerical prediction of radiative heat transfer was calculated using an FVM radiation solving method, which is a well-known and efficient method for curvilinear coordinates. The WSGGM (weighted sum of gray gas model) was also adopted to calculate the radiative heat transfer in composition dependent media. The entire furnace was divided into fourteen sub-zones to calculate the radiative thermal characteristics of the furnace without flow field calculations. Each sub-zone was assumed to have homogeneous media and wall temperatures. All of the medium and wall temperatures were computed by calculating the overall heat balance using some relevant assumptions. The overall heat balance was satisfied when the net heat input equaled the three sources of heat loss in each sub-zone, wall loss, skid loss, and slab heating loss.     

Simultaneous radiation and conduction heat transfer in a graded index semitransparent slab with gray boundaries

The simultaneous radiation and conduction heat transfer in a semitransparent slab of absorbing-emitting gray medium is solved in this paper. The refractive index of the medium spatially varies in a linear relationship, and the two boundary walls are diffuse and gray. A curved ray tracing technique in combination with a pseudo-source adding method is employed to deduce the radiative intensities on gray walls. Resorting to some of the results presented by Ben Abdallah and Le Dez, an exact expression of the radiative flux in medium is deduced. The influences on the temperature and radiative flux fields are examined, which are caused by the refractive index distribution, absorbing coefficient, thermal conductivity and the boundary wall emissivities. The results display the significant influences of the refractive index distribution and boundary wall emissivities on the radiative flux and temperature in medium.     

NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS FOR COMBINED CONDUCTION AND RADIATION TRANSIENT HEAT TRANSFER IN A SEMITRANSPARENT MEDIUM

A numerical computer code was developed for calculating the combined conduction and radiation transient heat transfer in cylindrical, semitransparent materials that have temperature-dependent thermal properties. The radiative component is combined with the equation of conduction heat transfer by adding it as a heat source. The finite element method (FEM) was used for calculating the radiative component and for solving the temperature field in the medium. Very good agreement was observed between results obtained by using our code and those that exist in the literature for several steady-state cases. The advantage of the code is due to the fact that it incorporates temperature-dependent properties; thus it leads to more realistic and accurate results. The code was applied to calculate the cooling path of a large cylindrical sapphire boule while using varying, transient, temperature-dependent, combined heat transfer coefficients.     

Estimation of the transient surface temperature and heat flux of a steel slab using an inverse method

In the steel industry it is of great importance to be able to control the surface temperature and heating- or cooling rates during heat treatment processes. An experiment was performed in which a steel slab was heated up to 1250 °C in a fuel fired test furnace. The transient surface temperature and heat flux of a steel slab is calculated using a model for inverse heat conduction. That is, the time dependent local surface temperature and heat flux of a slab is calculated on the basis of temperature measurements in selected points of its interior by using a model of inverse heat conduction. Time- and temperature histories were measured at three points inside a steel slab. Measured temperature histories at the two lower locations of the slab were used as input to calculate the temperature at the position of the third location. A comparison of the experimentally measured and the calculated temperature histories was made to verify the model. The results showed very good agreement and suggest that this model can be applied to similar applications in the Steel industry or in other areas where the target of investigation for some reason is inaccessible to direct measurements.     

A Coupled Numerical Study of Slab Temperature and Gas Temperature in the Walking-Beam-Type Slab Reheating Furnace

In the present study, a three-dimensional simulation is performed for the turbulent reactive flow and radiactive heat transfer in the walking-beam-type slab reheating furnace using STAR-CD software. The geometric model takes care of all components of the furnace. To obtain a steady solution, the walking beams are assumed fixed in the furnace and the slab is modeled as a laminar flow having a very high viscosity and thus moving at a nearly constant speed. The temperature distributions of the slab and the gas mixture are obtained through a coupled calculation. The simulation results successfully predict the temperature distribution inside the slab and the heat flux on the slab surfaces, providing an opportunity for a full exploration of the influence of the walking beam system on the skid marks. The simulation results show that the radiative shielding by the static beams is the main cause of the skid marks. The heat loss through the skid button to the cooling system worsens the skid marks.     

燃烧产物辐射特性的误差对炉内辐射传热计算精度的影响

本文用离散坐标法对含吸收散射性介质矩形空腔内的３维辐射传递过程进行了模拟，并编写了相应的数值计算程序。利用该程序分析了介质的吸收系数、散射系数、相函数、光谱特性及壁面灰渣沉积层黑度的不确定性对矩形燃烧室内烟气温度及热流计算精度的影响。结果表明计算精度很大程度上取决于燃烧产物辐射特性的取值精度，特别是壁面灰渣沉积层黑度的取值精度。在煤粉燃烧室中，介质的散射不宜忽略。     

炉膛中间截面边界条件对双切圆锅炉空气动力场计算的影响

大容量超超临界锅炉广泛采用单炉膛双切圆的空气动力组织方式,在计算流体力学软件FLUENT平台上,针对1GW超超临界单炉膛双切圆锅炉,计算了全炉膛和炉膛中间截面边界条件设为对称面和边壁条件的炉内空气动力场。计算表明,与标准κ-ε双方程模型相比雷诺应力模型(RSM)具有更高的计算精度;中间截面采用对称边界条件时,其流场分布规律与全炉膛模拟结果相似;中间截面为边壁条件时炉膛中间截面附近流速降低,但对整个炉膛流场影响较小;中间截面采用这两种边界条件均会导致1#、6#角射流衰减缓慢而冲刷炉膛前墙中间水冷壁。     

Computational study of heat transfer in solar collectors with different radiative flux models

Two‐dimensional steady incompressible laminar Newtonian viscous convection‐radiative heat transfer in a rectangular solar collector geometry is considered. The ANSYS FLUENT finite volume code (version 17.2) is used to simulate the thermo‐fluid characteristics. Extensive details of computational methodology are given to provide engineers with a framework for simulating radiative‐convection in enclosures. Mesh‐independence tests and validation are conducted. The influence of aspect ratio, Prandtl number ( Pr), Rayleigh number ( Ra) and radiative flux model on temperature, isotherms, velocity, and pressure is evaluated and visualized in colour plots. In addition, local convective heat flux is computed, and solutions are compared with the MAC solver for various buoyancy effects achieving excellent agreement. The P1 model is shown to better predict the actual influence of solar radiative flux on thermal fluid behaviour compared with the limited Rosseland model. With increasing Ra, the hot zone emanating from the base of the collector is found to penetrate deeper into the collector and rises symmetrically dividing into two vortex regions with very high buoyancy effect. With increasing Pr there is a progressive incursion of the hot zone at the solar collector base higher into the solar collector space and simultaneously a greater asymmetric behaviour of the dual isothermal zones.     

Real-time solution of heat conduction in a finite slab for inverse analysis

Laplace transform is used to solve the problem of heat conduction over a finite slab. The transfer functions relating the temperature and heat flux on the front and back surfaces of the finite slab are developed. Although there are many competing methods for constructing the inverse Laplace transform, we use polynomial approximation of the transfer function. Therefore, transient solutions for given boundary conditions are easily obtained using SIMULINK. This process is much simpler than other numerical solution methods for the heat equation. Most importantly, our method of solution allows us to obtain, in real-time, the front surface temperature and heat flux based on the thermodynamic measurements on the back surface. We also demonstrate the feasibility of reconstructing the front surface temperature when sensor noise is incorporated to the back surface measurements.