Numerical simulation of multiphase flow in a Vanyukov furnace
HL Zhang, CQ Zhou, WU Bing, YM Chen
Multiphase flow in the widely used Vanyukov furnace was numerically
studied. An unsteady three-dimensional and three-phase flow model was
firstly built using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS
FLUENTŪ, and then solved with the volume of fluid (VOF) and k - e model.
The results showed that the proposed model could be used to predict the
multiphase movement, the slag/air fluctuation, the vortex formation, and
effects of structural and operational parameters. By fast Fourier transform
(FFT), the dominant frequency of density with time signal was calculated
as 0.29 Hz. The analysis of different injection flow rates of enriched air
indicated that this variable has a major effect on the mean slag velocity.
The peak mean velocity increased from 2.17 to 4.99 m/s while the flow rate
of enriched air varied from 70 to 160 m/s. The proposed model provides a
method to optimize the furnace structure and operating conditions for the
best furnace performance and lowest energy consumption.
Keywords: Vanyukov furnace, multiphase flow, numerical simulation, fast Fourier
transform, structure optimization, operation condition optimization.