Journal Article

A Comparative Study of the Performance of Different Particle Models in Simulating Particle Charging and Burden Distribution in a Blast Furnace within the DEM Framework

Zhou, Lianyong, Liu, Zihan, Liao, Xiaoling, Ma, Huaqing, Liu, Yanlei, Huang, Ze, Song, Tao, Zou, Guobin, Xia, Xiuhao, Zhao, Yongzhi, Xu, Chao

2023

Overview

There has been growing interest in applying the DEM (discrete element method) to study the charging and burden distribution in a BF (blast furnace). In practice, the real particles in a BF are non-spherical. However, spherical particles have mostly been used in previous DEM investigations. Furthermore, various particle models have been developed to describe non-spherical particles. However, the effects of using different particle models on particle behavior in a BF are still unclear. Therefore, a comparative study of how the particle shape model impacts the burden charging in a BF was conducted. Specifically, the DEM using a multi-sphere model, polyhedral model, and super-ellipsoid model was first established. Then, experiments and DEM simulations of the charging and burden distribution of non-spherical quartz sand particles in a lab-scale bell-less top BF were performed. The results indicated that the number of sub-spheres, the principle of creating the particle for multi-spheres, the number of planes for polyhedrons, and the shape indices for super-ellipsoids could all affect the accuracy and efficiency. Moreover, applying the super-ellipsoid model and multi-sphere model could achieve reasonable accuracy and efficiency, with the highest simulation accuracy for the polyhedral model but at the cost of a rather heavy computational burden.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Behavior / blast furnace / Comparative analysis / DEM / Efficiency / Experiments / Friction / Furnaces / Gas flow / Granular materials / Influence / Iron compounds / multi-sphere model / polyhedral model / Simulation / Simulation methods / Spheres / super-ellipsoid model / Velocity