A Numerical Thermal Analysis of the Heating Process of Large Size Forged Ingots

Simulation and analysis of thermal interactions during heat treatment is of great importance for accurate prediction of temperature evolution of work pieces and consequently controlling the final microstructure and mechanical properties of products. In the present study, a three-dimensional CFD model was employed to predict the heating process of large size forged ingots inside an industrial gas-fired heat treatment furnace. One-ninth section of a loaded furnace, including details such as fixing bars and high-momentum cup burners, was employed as the computational domain. The simulations were conducted using the ANSYS-FLUENT commercial CFD package. The k-epsilon, P-1 and Probability Density Function (PDF) in the non-premix combustion, as low computational cost numerical approaches were employed to simulate the turbulent fluid flow, thermal radiation, combustion and conjugate heat transfer inside the furnace. Temperature measurement at different locations of the forged ingot surfaces were used to validate the transient numerical simulations. Good agreement was obtained between the predictions of the CFD model and the experimental measurements, demonstrating the reliability of the proposed approach and application of the model for process optimization purposes. Detailed analysis of conjugate heat transfer together with the turbulent combustion showed that the temperature evolution of the product was significantly dependant on the furnace geometry and the severity of turbulent flow structures in the furnace.