A Theoretical Study of the Influence of the Injection Velocity on the Heat and Fluid Flow in a Soaking-Pit Furnace when using Flameless Oxyfuel Heating
Flameless oxyfuel combustion is one of the most recently developed combustion systems that has the potential to provide better combustion efficiency combined with a lower pollution production compared to conventional combustion systems. However, a lack of knowledge exists with respect to the influence of different parameters on the combustion results when using the flameless oxyfuel technology. Thus, in the current study a previously validated CFD model is used to investigate the effect of the injection velocity on the temperature distribution, recirculation ratio of the flue gases, flame volume, turbulence intensity, and flame radiation to the ingots. The results show that an increased injection velocity highly affects the temperature uniformity inside the chamber. More specifically, the maximum temperature difference in the flame region drops from 8.59% to 3.78% for burner capacities of 130 kW and 907 kW, respectively. The results also show that as the burner capacity is increased from 130 kW to 906 kW i) the flame volume increases from 0.02 m3 to 2.6 m3, ii) the turbulence intensity increases from 1.8% to 16% and iii) the recirculation factor increases from 1.77 to 2.03.
