Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer and Scale Formation in a Reheat Furnace. Issue 4 (15th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Xiang; Worl, Bethany; Tang, Guangwu; Silaen, Armin K.; Cox, Jeffrey; Johnson, Kurt; Bodnar, Rick; Zhou, Chenn Q.
• Other Names: Zhou Chenn Q. guestEditor.; Bodnar Richard L. guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Steel research international. Volume 90:Issue 4(2019)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2018-10-15
• Subjects: computational fluid dynamics -- product quality -- reheat furnace -- scale formation -- scale thickness; Steel -- Periodicals; Steel -- Metallurgy -- Periodicals; 669.142
• DOI: 10.1002/srin.201800385
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1611-3683

Abstract

Abstract : In steel rolling mills, reheat furnaces are used to reheat slabs to high temperatures in a highly oxidizing environment; this results in the formation of iron oxide scale on the slab surface. Scale formation poses an ongoing material and economic loss to industry and should be minimized where feasible. The kinetics of scale growth are complex and still not fully understood. Previous studies that modeled scale formation with mathematical methods are limited to simple case studies. Here, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate slab reheat furnace operations and to investigate complicated physical phenomenon. This paper proposes a new numerical method to model scale growth under varying conditions/characteristics including temperature, gas atmosphere composition, and steel grade. This method uses a mixed linear‐parabolic equation to model both the initial surface reaction (and scale formation) and the subsequent solid‐state ion diffusion through the developed scale. This model can be used to predict the amount of scale that will form on a slab under certain conditions. Model predictions were found to be consistent with experimental data. Abstract : In this paper, a new numerical method to simulate scale formation is introduced. An acceptable agreement between CFD model results and actual experimental measurements is achieved for the scale formation model under different gas conditions. The model estimates the scale thickness with fair accuracy compared with both in‐lab experimental work and industrial reheat furnace data.