Simulation of the hearth draining process and thermal stress of a BF hearth

Understanding the flow pattern of hot metal and molten slag and their level in the hearth during hearth drainage is important for hearth operation and maintenance. In this paper, a transient three-dimensional multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to simulate the hearth drainage of a blast furnace equipped with multiple tapholes. This model can be used to analyze the liquid flow patterns inside a hearth along with the liquid level profile at the end of drainage under different hearth conditions. The detailed liquid flow pattern, velocity distributions, and temperature field along with the thermal stress analysis will be very helpful to understand the hearth erosion mechanism.