Development of particle flow simulator in charging process of blast furnace by discrete element method

The objective of this paper is the development of a particle flow simulator for a blast furnace charging process using the discrete element method. A full model of the bell-less type charging process; i.e. a surge hopper, conveyors, a parallel hopper, a rotating chute and top layer of blast furnace, was modeled. The history of particle segregation during charging/discharging can be considered using this model. The particle segregation not only spatially-distributed but also temporal-distributed in each process can be analyzed in detail. The larger particles are stayed near the side walls due to segregation during flowing on the heap, when the particles are charged into the surge hopper or the parallel hopper. The segregation during flowing in the chute, which is installed above the parallel hopper, also affects segregation in the hopper. The larger particles tend to be discharged last, because they are near the side wall in the surge hopper or the parallel ones. The particles flow toward the center of the blast furnace with increasing the number of chute rotations, and are segregated during flowing. Thus, the mean particle size nearer the center increases.