CFD Simulation of the Fused Silica Synthesis Furnace

Abstract

The synthesis process of the fused silica glass uses chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method in a furnace. The synthesis process involves complicated physical-chemical phenomena such as turbulence, combustion, radiation, two-phase flow, and so on. A CFD simulation has been carried out for an industrial furnace and process. The simulation result including temperature and major species concentration then is input to CHEMKIN to calculate the radical equilibrium concentration on the fused silica surface. The trend of the simulated fused silica surface temperature is consistent with the measured refraction index showing that the surface temperature is one of the most important parameters influencing the refractive index uniformity of the fused silica product.