Análise numérica comparativa do desempenho termomecânico do sistema de refrigeração baseado em stave coolers dos altos-fornos da Ternium Brasil

Abstract

The blast furnaces preservation techniques have important and strategic function in Steelmaking plants, whereas these equipments are between the industrial plant main integrant. The blast furnaces have, ordinarily, many operational problems with cooler system damages, these damages can be caused by different problems: design, erection process, operational conditions, etc. In diverse circumstances, the stave coolers materials, installed into the blast furnace, are exposed by severe operational condition for long time, causing degradation in mechanical properties. This degradation can result in premature damages, with possibility to recover the original conditions The component recuperations is realized with different corrective or preventive maintenance techniques. Nonetheless, more techiniques do not restore totally the cooler system capacity. In this report, are evaluated the flow characteristic inherent of all preservation techniques used in Ternium ® Brasil Ltda. Stave Coolers, and also the design configurations, including the consequences created in thermomechanic performance of these components. The results permit to established the operational condition that corroborate to predict the stave coolers work temperature and to estimate, qualitatively, if these operational conditions can be caused microstructural changes and consequentely damages or wear in these components. The computational simulation results was validated by real equipment thermography analysis, together with the predict equations established from significant statistical correlations. The conclusions obtained show that the cigar coolers instalation, flexible hoses insertion, hard water utilization present good results for the blast furnace operational parameters in accordance with the design limits established.