Modeling effects of swirl burners on the heating quality of slabs and flame morphology in a walking-beam reheating furnace

This paper developed a model of zone segment swirl burners to realize individual separation of swirl burners within a CFD model of an industrial-scale walking-beam reheating furnace. Numerical results are validated against the experimental measurements, demonstrating good agreement and credibility. Leveraging this model, a comprehensive investigation on the effect of swirl angle on the flame morphology and the slab heating quality has been conducted. Comparing various swirl angles (0°, 25°, 45°, and 65°) provides valuable insights into their impact on flame morphology, and slab heating quality. A swirl angle of 25° has been identified as optimal, yielding the maximum flame area within the furnace, measuring 326.09 m2. Furthermore, it reduces the maximum absolute temperature deviation of the discharged slab’s top surface centerline to 7.64 K, marking a substantial 25.83 % reduction compared to the 0° angle. These results highlight the critical role swirl burners play in the reheating furnace and identify the optimal swirl angle for effectively enhancing both the economic benefits and product quality in industrial processes.