Ironmaking blast furnaces are typically charged with alternating layers of granular coke and ferrous materials using a rotating chute to distribute materials circumferentially around the furnace throat. Although rotating chute designs offer a significant degree of control, there are many phenomena where an operator has only limited ability to control the fundamental granular behaviours that impact the final distribution. Simple empirical rotating chute models have been developed by considering simple stream trajectory calculation and volume filling/slope stability formulations. However, they require significant effort in measuring the parameters that describe these phenomena.
Discrete particle simulation is well situated to provide a deeper understanding of burden distribution in a blast furnace. Development of the next generation of blast furnace distribution model can provide the step change in control needed to take advantage of the modern multicomponent burden composition. The project will deliver a model for offline use as a burden distribution planning and evaluation tool to enhance the decision making capability of blast furnace engineers.