Analysis of traveling behavior of nut coke particles in bell-type charging process of blast furnace by using discrete element method

The objective of this paper is to analyze the particle behavior in bell-type charging process of actual blast furnace by using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The circumferential balance of charged mass in the quad-hopper and the effect of the nut coke particle position in the quad-hopper on the traveling behavior and the segregation were discussed. The mass flow rate discharged from the rotating chute was fluctuated with the time, and the peak values gave when the directions of the chute movement became same as the one of the conveyor. It leads to the unbalance of charged particles in each part of the quad-hopper. The nut coke moved to the upward in the sintered ore particle layer during traveling to large bell from the quad-hopper due to the particle segregation, when they were segregated at the bottom of hopper. However their relative positions moved downward when they were segregated at the top, because the time for starting discharging of nut coke became faster. The installation of the damper at the way to the small bell from the hopper affects on the circumferential balance of mass of nut coke. Most of nut coke particles were charged at near the wall of blast furnace, and the small peak of the distribution of its specific charged mass was seen around 3.0 m in the radial distance from the center, it caused by the particle segregation during flowing on the particle layer. The relative radial distribution of the nut coke particles wasn't affected by their positions in the large bell and the total mass. Thus, keeping the circumferential balance of nut coke mass in the large bell is very important. The position of nut coke particle didn't affect on the segregation of sintered ore. The radial distributions of relative charged mass for all conditions were quite similar.