THE PROBLEM
The blast furnace is one of the most energy and capital intensive processes in iron and steelmaking. Complex phenomena and difficulties in taking measurements have led to using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations for optimization and better understanding of processes within blast furnaces. However, increasingly complex CFD results are difficult to interpret and communicate among blast furnace personnel with varying backgrounds. Efforts have been made in the past to combine 3-D and virtual reality (VR) with CFD to improve communication and understanding, but these have only been applied to blast furnaces in a very limited fashion.
Comparison of 2D blast furnace demonstration and VR blast furnace visualization
THE PROJECT
Faculty and students have worked together with industry experts to create a comprehensive virtual blast furnace that combine CFD simulations of the various complex processes within the furnace with 3-D and VR visualization. The virtual blast furnace includes charging process, burden descending and gas distribution, coke and coal combustion, bottom hearth inner profile. The methodology is developed to convert the CFD data to the VR system by several different software applications and customized functions. The methodology allows the user to navigate, switch between data sets, step through time-steps and so on.
Gas distribution through the cohesive zone
THE OUTCOME
By converting the numerical data to a VR environment, the development of a virtual blast furnace allows researchers, plant engineers, operators, and other personnel to bring their experiences directly into the design and optimization process. The virtual blast furnace model has been used in actually training process.
Detailed gas distribution inside blast furnace shaft
Click the movie below to see the Virtual Blast Furnace in detail.
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