(273c) Dynamics and Stability of Particle Flow with Lateral Gas Blasting

Lateral gas blasting into packed bed makes cavity with circulating particles called raceway in blast furnace. The raceway plays an important role in distributing reducing gas and heat upward in blast furnace while regularity of particle descent and gas distribution relies on stability of raceway. Therefore, stability of raceway is important for operation of blast furnace. Many works (Wagstaff et al. [1], Hatano et al. [2]) have been reported about size of raceway. And recently Umekage et al. [3] numerically simulated raceway unsteadiness using Discrete Element Method (DEM). However, raceway and fluidization phenomena have not been sufficiently understood. In this study, the influence of tuyere diameter and blast volume, which are main factors on formation of raceway in front of tuyere, on stability of raceway is discussed in terms of energy balance between gas and particle bed by DEM simulations.