Abstract
The reheating furnace operation is a complex physical and chemical process which involves combustion, heat exchange among the furnace wall, flame, skids, slab movement and slab internal heat conduction. A large number of studies have analyzed the reheating furnace operation and slab heating process optimization. However, the reported results are based on the laboratory scale, and few studies have been reported for the large-scale industrial reheating furnaces due to the complex geometries and operating conditions. In this work, based on the geometry and operating parameters of the actual reheating furnace, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is built and developed to predict the dynamic reheating process of the slab and the temperature distribution gradient inside the furnace. The 28-step reaction mechanism is used to predict the oxy-fuel combustion flame characteristics. Industrial reheating furnaces is optimized by enhanced combustion. The results show that oxy-fuel combustion obtains higher flame temperature and reduces the consumption of fuel, the average temperature inside the furnace increases and radiation is enhanced, the slab discharge temperature increases by 8% and the reheating furnace efficiency increases by 6.25%. The proposed model is easy to be used by mill engineers for trouble shooting and optimizing of the slab reheating process.
Keywords: Industrial reheating furnace; CFD; Simulation; Oxy-fuel combustion; Heat Transfer
 

Industrial reheating furnace; CFD; Simulation; Oxy-fuel combustion; Heat Transfer