Abstract
In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation model for the flow and heat transfer in a side-blown aluminum annealing furnace (SAAF) is successfully established. Based on the vivid evolutions of the flow field and temperature field, it is confirmed that multiple vortices among the radially distributed nozzles play a key role in reducing the interior flow resistance of the SAAF. The simulated flow distribution agrees remarkably well with the on-site experimental data, which reveals that the model based on the multireference frame method is suitable for describing the 3D fluid-solid coupling heat transfer process inside the SAAF. In addition, to resolve the appreciably uneven temperature distribution in the SAAF, a scheme of guide plate arrangement around the fan is developed to adjust the flow pattern and facilitate the reasonable allocation of the nozzle flow. The standard deviation and the coefficient of variation are obviously declined (∼12%) for both low and standard airspeeds, thereby suggesting that the uniformity of the nozzle flow distribution are expectedly improved. The progress made so far is a substantial step toward achieving high quality, high efficiency and energy savings in aluminum production.
Highlights
With the ongoing increase of the consumption of aluminum products in the construction, aerospace and food packing fields, various production lines of aluminum foils, strips and coils have been produced and implemented
As was found in our previous work (Qiu, Feng, Chen, Li, & Zhang, 2018) and others (Carmona & Cortes, 2015; Nieckele, Naccache, & Gomes, 2011; Wang, Zhou, Yan, & Zhou, 2014), the melting process for the regenerative aluminum melting furnace can be accurately described using simulation approaches and a multiobjective optimization method, which is proved to be a good tool for significant energy consumption reductions
(1) For the side-blown aluminum annealing furnace, the reverse vortices formed among the inner ring nozzles increases the flow resistance
Summary
With the ongoing increase of the consumption of aluminum products in the construction, aerospace and food packing fields, various production lines of aluminum foils, strips and coils have been produced and implemented. Aiming to elucidate the interlaminar bonding phenomenon of aluminum coils in hydrogen bell-type annealing furnaces, the temperature field and stress distribution of coils are theoretically studied by Saboonchi, Hassanpour, and Abbasi (2008) via establishing a numerical calculation model. Another heat transfer model containing the effects of the heat storage of the workpiece and the heat dissipation from the furnace wall is constructed using the simulation approach by Kang and Rong (2006). The 3D fluid-solid coupling model based on the multireference frame (MRF) is established to simulate the annealing process of aluminum coils, aiming to improve the annealing quality and efficiency
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