Numerical study on the abrasive wear of screw flights considering the scaffolding near the bustle pipe zone in a COREX shaft furnace

Abstract

Scaffolding near the bustle pipe zone is a common problem in the operation of the COREX shaft furnace. To study the asymmetrical abrasive wear of screw flights in the presence of scaffolding, a three-dimensional COREX shaft furnace model with two representative locations of scaffolding is established based on the Discrete Element Method. Two different structures of the screw are investigated and the abrasive wear is calculated using Archard wear equation. The results show that the maximum abrasive wear of the screw flights occurs on the opposite side of the scaffold. The abrasive wear of screw flights is greater when the scaffold is located directly above the middle of two adjacent screws than above a certain screw. The abrasive wear of equidistant screw flights is about twice the modified screw under the same scaffold condition. The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis for the optimization of the COREX shaft furnace.