Numerical Investigation of the Transient Multiphase Flow in an Ironmaking Blast Furnace

Abstract

Discrete particle simulation (DPS) has been applied to multiphase flow modelling in an ironmaking blast furnace (BF), including burden distribution at the top, gas–solid flow in the BF shaft and raceway, and liquid–solid flow in the hearth. In this work, the approach is further extended to take into account the transient features of gas and particle flow coupled with liquid tapping operation. In the simulation, two types of particles of coke and ore with different physical properties are considered, together with different shapes of the cohesive zone and the shrinkage of size of ore particles in the cohesive zone to present ore reduction. The simulated results show that the flow of both solid and gas phases varies spatially and temporally, particularly in the cohesive zone. Gas flow is strongly affected by the layered structure of ore and coke particles in the cohesive zone. A coke-free zone can form in the hearth, and the boundary profile between the coke-free zone and the coke bed depends on the amount of liquid accumulated in the hearth, gas and solid flow rates in the raceway, and coke consumption in different regions at the interface of liquid and the coke bed. The results show that the complicated transient multiphase-flow in a BF can be captured by the present approach which may be extended to account for heat transfer and chemical reaction in the future.