Analysis of Powder Motion in a Packed Bed of Blast Furnace Using the Discrete Element Method

• Kikuchi Shin

  Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University

• Kon Tatsuya

  Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University

• Ueda Shigeru

  Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University

• Natsui Shungo

  Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University

• Inoue Ryo

  Akita University

• Ariyama Tatsuro

  Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University

Abstract

Owing to powder accumulation in the packed bed, the permeability of gas and liquid deteriorates, which decrease throughput of the blast furnace. Powder in the moving bed has a large effect on the productivity and efficiency of the blast furnace process when operating with low coke rate and using high-reactivity coke. Therefore, an investigation on the effect of the powder’s physical properties and the moving bed material on transport phenomena and the accumulation mechanism of powder in the blast furnace is essential.<br>In the present study, the motion of powder particles was simulated using the discrete element method (DEM), and the effect of the powder particles’ shape on the behavior and accumulation of powder was investigated. The study used DEM to reproduce the movement of particles by solving the equations of motion of individual particles. Since the particles were treated as spherical objects in DEM, contact friction and rolling resistance were implemented to represent the irregular shape of actual powder particles. The calculation results showed that contact friction and rotational resistance affected the static holdup of the powder. The amount of clogging of powder at a bottleneck in the moving bed increased with increasing coefficients of friction and resistance. Moreover, the impact of the flow velocity of the gaseous phase on the accumulation behavior of powder was examined. The frictional force on powder particles at the bottleneck increased with an increase in the gas velocity. The clogging of powder occurred easily as a result.

Journal

• ISIJ International

  ISIJ International 55 (6), 1313-1320, 2015

  The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan

Keywords

• blast furnace
• ironmaking
• powder
• packed bed
• numerical simulation
• DEM
• accumulation
• permeability

Details

• CRID: 1390001206488684672
• NII Article ID: 130005077652
• DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.55.1313
• ISSN: 13475460
• ISSN: 09151559
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/isijinternational/55/6/55_1313/_pdf
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed