Application of the Spectral Line-based Weighted-Sum-of-Gray-Gases model (SLWSGG) to the calculation of radiative heat transfer in steel reheating furnaces firing on low heating value gases

Abstract

The Spectral Line-based Weighted-Sum-of-Gray-Gases (SLWSGG) model is applied to calculate the gaseous radiative properties of the aero- or oxy-combustion products of low heating value gases issued from steel making process such as Blast Furnace Gas (BFG) as well as of high heating value gases such as Coke Oven Gas (COG) and conventional Natural Gas (NG). The comparison of total emissivities shows that the 3-gray-gases SLWSGG model is in very good agreement with the Hottel and Sarofim's database. The 3-gray-gases SLWSGG model is then integrated into AnsysFluent® Discrete Ordinates method under User Defined Function and CFD simulations are performed using these combined models. The simulations are done, with full combustion-radiation coupling, for steel reheating furnaces firing on three types of gases: BFG, COG and NG. The results are compared with the simulations realized with the 1-gray-gas WSGG model available in AnsysFluent®. The comparison shows that the 1-gray-gas WSGG model highly overestimates the steel discharging temperature as compared to the 3-gray-gases SLWSGG model. Significant temperature differences are observed between the two radiative models, i.e. 116°C, 55°C and 67°C for the BFG, COG and NG cases, respectively. It can be concluded that the 3-gray-gases SLWSGG model should be used to calculate the radiation heat transfer in large industrial furnaces with more accuracy not only for low heating value gases such as BFG but also for high heating value gases such as COG and NG.