A numerical approach for the study of glass furnace regenerators

Regenerative heat exchangers used in glass industry are complex systems owing to the transient nature of their operating cycle, as well as to the complexity of the heat exchange phenomena involved: aiding mixed convection during the cold period and combined presence of radiation and forced convection during the hot period. The present study describes an open method to simulate the behaviour of such regenerators. Preliminary results allowed us to validate our model in comparison with experimental and/or analytical data obtained on simple geometries. In a second step, a complete validation is proposed on a large scale experimental set-up which reproduces the exact behaviour of an industrial glass furnace regenerator. An original method based on the Boussinesq approximation with a “fictitious thermal expansion coefficient” was successfully introduced for this complete validation.