Experimental and numerical investigations of gouge formation related to blast furnace burden distribution

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study of the gouge formation related to burden distribution in a BF. Physical experiments are conducted using a simplified bell-less charging model. The results indicate that the burden distribution is affected by particle properties such as density and size, and geometry of experimental set-up such as chute angle and distance between bin and chute. The gouge area generated is related to the ratio of the input energy from the top layer to the inertial energy from the base layer for the cases with red wooden balls, large glass beads and large steel balls. Numerical experiments are performed by means of the discrete element method. It is shown that the simulation model can reproduce the experimental results well. The weight ratio distribution is found to be largely affected by the densities of materials. The force structures are also analyzed to understand the fundamentals of the formation of the burden profiles. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.