Modeling of Steel Slab Reheating Process in a Walking Beam Reheating Furnace

Abstract

Slab reheating is a very important step in steel product manufacturing. A small improvement in reheating efficiency can translate into big savings to steel mills in terms of fuel consumption and productivity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been employed in conducting numerical simulations of the slab reheating furnace operation. However, a full industrial scale three-dimensional (3D) simulation of a slab reheating furnace, while comprehensive, is not an efficient way to conduct broad studies of the slab heating process. In this paper, a comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) numerical heat transfer model for slab reheating in a walking beam furnace was developed using the finite difference method. The 2D heat transfer model utilizes the heat transfer coefficients derived from a 3D reheating furnace CFD model which was validated by using mill instrumented slab trials. The 2D heat transfer model is capable of predicting slab temperature evolutions during the reheating processes based on the real time furnace conditions and steel physical properties. The 2D model was validated by using mill instrumented slab trials and production data. Good agreement between the model predictions and production data was obtained.