Simulation of gas-liquid flow in dripping zone of blast furnace involving impermeable fused layers

A newly developed gas-liquid two-phase model has been employed to simulate the flow of gas and liquid in a blast furnace. This model accounts for the existence of impermeable fused layers in the blast furnace cohesive zone and treats the liquid as a discrete phase as revealed by experimental observation. The model has been run with a variety of assumed cohesive zones under a given blast furnace condition, giving the flow pattern and the distributions of liquid flow rates and liquid holdup. The results demonstrate the localized horizontal or upward flow characteristics of discrete liquid in and below the blast furnace cohesive zone. These characteristics are affected by the cohesive zone structure that can be described in terms of shape, position and the numbers of fused layers. The study reinforces the need to implement liquid flow in blast furnace modelling.