Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309

DOI 10.1007/s00231-006-0220-9

ORIGINAL

Study on the equivalent convection coefficient of the hot surface

of blast furnace stave
Lijun Wu Æ Weiguo Zhou Æ Peng Li Æ Huier Cheng

Received: 3 April 2006 / Accepted: 1 December 2006 / Published online: 4 January 2007

Springer-Verlag 2006

Abstract The calculation models of the equivalent hwb integration coefficient of heat convection
convection coefficient between blast furnace gas flow between cooling stave and cooling water (W/
and the hot surface of stave body, gas flow and in-laid m2 C)
brick were established by the combination of experi- hzb, hzd equivalent convection coefficients between
ments and numerical calculation when the gas tem- gas flow and stave body, gas flow and in-laid
perature is in the range of 505–1,248C. The reason brick, respectively (W/m2 C)
why the heat transfer coefficient between gas flow and l characteristics length (m)
in-laid brick is much more than that between gas and p wetting perimeter (m)
stave body was analyzed when the gas temperature is qb, qd heat flux of heat surface of the stave body
high. The opinion just to considering a kind of inte- and in-laid brick, respectively (W/m2)
gration heat transfer coefficient while the numerical t0b, t0d hot surface temperature of stave and in-laid
calculation of heat transfer model of stave will be brick, respectively (C)
changed. The division of above two heat transfer t1b, t1d temperature values of test points which are
coefficients will increase the degree of heat transfer 15 mm distance from hot surface of stave
numerical calculation. and in-laid brick, respectively (C)
t2b, t2d temperature values of test points which are
10 mm distance from hot surface of stave
List of symbols and in-laid brick, respectively (C)
a thermal diffusivity of gas flow (m2/s) tg temperature of gas flow (C)
Al section area of hearth (m2) Ta atmospheric temperature (C)
B wastage of fuel (kg/h) Tk temperature of stave cool surface (C)
hc coefficient of convection heat transfer Tg Tb temperature of gas and stave hot surface,
between gas and stave (W/m2 C) respectively (K)
hk overall coefficient of heat convection Tw cooling water temperature (C)
between stave and atmosphere (W/m2 C) Twb contact temperature between cooling stave
hr coefficient of radiation heat transfer and cooling water pipe (C)
(W/m2 C) v flow speed of gas (m/s)
Vn gas quantity (m3/kg)
L. Wu (&)
W. Zhou
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tong Ji University,
Shanghai 200092, China Greek symbols
e-mail: ljwu@mail.tongji.edu.cn d1b, d2b distances between t1b and t2b, t2b and t0b
inside the stave, respectively (mm)
P. Li
H. Cheng
Insititute of Engineering Thermophysics, Shanghai Jiaotong d1d, d2d distances between t1d and t2d, t2d and t0d
University, Shanghai 200030, China inside the in-laid brick, respectively (mm)

123
1304
vgas kinematic viscosity of gas (m2/s)
eg average emissivity of gas flow to stave
ag absorptance of gas
k thermal conductivity coefficient of stave
body (W/m C)
kg thermal conductivity coefficient of gas
(W/m C)
Non-dimensional parameters
Nu the Nusselt number
Pr the Prandtle number
Re the Reynolds number
1 Introduction
There are a number of mathematical models describing
the heat transfer process of a cooling stave. Steiger
et al. [1] developed the heat transfer model to predict
the temperature field of copper cooling plate and lin-
ing. Wang et al. [2] simulated a three-dimensional heat
transfer model to describe the temperature field in the
wall of the lower stack region of a blast furnace. Some
researchers [3–7] in China have led to some numerical
simulation to calculate the temperature field of a
cooling stave.
The equivalent convection coefficient between the
thermal surface of blast furnace (BF) stave and gas
flow is an important parameter for studying the tem-
perature and thermal stress fields of BF stave and
designing and optimizing stave.
The heat transfer that consists of convection and
radiation between the stave and BF gas flow is very
complicated. The equivalent convection coefficient is
directly acting on the computing precision of the
temperature and thermal stress fields of stave. How-
ever, It is difficult to determine the equivalent con-
vection coefficient because it is influenced by lots of
factors such as the physical properties of gas, the sur-
face materials and state of stave [8–11]. Presently, the
data about the equivalent convection coefficient are
limited because of the lack of the standard. In history,
the equivalent convection coefficient between the
thermal surface of BF stave and gas flow was studied
by two researchers. Plyashkevich et al. [12] calculated
the equivalent convection coefficient by mathematical
model. Gudenau et al. [13] obtained the model of
equivalent convection coefficient by the combination
of the mathematical model of BF and in-site mea-
surement. The equivalent convection coefficient is
calculated when the gas flow temperature reaches
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Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309
1,200C. The calculated value are 320 and 230 W/
m2 C by use of the above models, respectively. Their
results indicate that values of the equivalent convec-
tion coefficient calculated by different models are dis-
tinct difference. Here, the equivalent convection
coefficient between gas flow and the heat surface of
stave was obtained by the combination of the hot test
study of BF stave and mathematical model.
2 Test method
The cast steel stave produced by Maanshan Iron &
Steel Co., Ltd, was used as the sample of hot test study.
The systems of the cycle cooling water, the gas flow
and the data collection was built to simulate the
practical condition. The diagram of experimental sys-
tem of the cooling stave of BF is shown in Fig. 1.
Twenty-one thermolcouples were installed (see Fig. 2.)
at the different position of the stave in order to com-
prehensively reflect the temperature fields of the stave.
The temperature values on the surface of stave were
calculated by the substitution method of boundary
condition [14], because the temperature changes of hot
surface of stave are effected by the gas flow. The points
of the 4th, 6th, 5th and 7th were installed into stave
body in order to monitor the temperatures on the hot
surface of stave body, the 11th, 13th, 12th and 14th are
installed into in-laid brick in order to monitor the
temperatures on the hot surface of in-laid brick. The
distance was 10 mm between the 4th, 5th, 11th and
12th points and the hot surface, whereas that was
15 mm between the 6th, 7th, 13th and 14th points and
the hot surface.
The fuel of the test furnace was 10# diesel fuel and
the speed of cooling water was set for 2 m/s. The
temperature values of all points were tested after one
hour when furnace gas temperatures reached 505, 800,
1,080 and 1,248C.
3 Test results and model of the equivalent convection
coefficient
3.1 Hot surface temperature of stave
The values of hot surface temperature of stave body
and in-laid brick were obtained by the substitution
method of boundary condition. The heat transfer was
considered as flat heat conduction because of the short
distance between the testing points and the hot surface.
Under steady-state heat transfer, the conductive heat
resistant is [15].
Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309 1305

Fig. 1 The schematic

diagram of experimental 3
system of the cooling stave of
BF

23 22

2
11 9 6 5
8

12 10
13
21
1 4
14 7

17
15 16
18
19 20

1 cast steel stave, 2 test furnace, 3 chimney, 4 cooling system and water tank, 5 pump, 6 water inlet
distribution, 7 water outlet distribution, 8 water pressure meter, 9, 10 water inlet flowmeter, 11, 12 water
inlet temperature meter, 13, 14 water outlet temperature meter, 15, 16 injection flow meter, 17, 18 nozzle,
19 water inlet, 20 wateroutlet, 21 oil tank, 22 data acquisition system, 23 operation platform.

t2b  t0b d2b

¼ ð2Þ
q k
Combine two equations above, the hot surface
temperature of the stave body is

d2b
t0b ¼ t2b þ ðt2b  t1b Þ ð3Þ
d1b
Similarly, the temperature on the hot surface of the in-
laid brick is

d2d
t0d ¼ t2d þ ðt2d  t1d Þ ð4Þ
d1d

where t0b, t0d are the temperature of the hot surface of

stave and in-laid brick, respectively, C; t1b, t1d are the
temperature of test points which are 15 mm distance
from hot surface of stave and in-laid brick, respec-
tively, C; t2b, t2d, the temperatures of test points which
are 10 mm distance from hot surface of stave and in-
laid brick, respectively, C; d1b, d2b are the distances
between t1b and t2b, t2b and t0b inside the stave,
Fig. 2 The distributing diagram of the temperature measuring
respectively, mm; d1d, d2d, the distances between t1d
position of the cooling stave and t2d, t2d and t0d inside the in-laid brick, mm; k is the
thermal conductivity coefficient of stave, W/m C,
which varies with temperature.
Applying testing data to Eqs. (3) and (4), the tem-
t1b  t2b d1b
¼ ð1Þ perature values of hot surface under different gas
q k temperatures are given in Table 1.

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1306 Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309

Table 1 The temperature, heat flux and coefficients of heat transfer of heat surface
Gas temperature Hot surface of stave body Hot surface of in-laid brick
(C)
Temperature Heat flux hzb (W/m2 C) Temperature Heat flux hzd (W/m2 C)
(C) (W/m2) (C) (W/m2)

505 355 12,000 80 424 7,128 88

800 534 28,728 108 632 20,832 124
1,080 789 36,957 127 925 23,715 153
1,248 903 52,440 152 1,051 41,764 212

3.2 Model of equivalent convection coefficient where @T@n is the temperature gradient along the normal
direction of the surface of cooling water pipe.
In order to obtain heat flux values of heat surface of The physical properties of the stave and in-laid brick
the stave body and in-laid brick, the model of tem- are listed in Table 2, and the kinds of coefficients
perature field of stave was built. Three-dimensional above can be found from the reference [6].
schematic of model of stave is shown in Fig. 3. The The heat flux values of heat surface of the stave
three-dimension steady-state heat transfer equation body and in-laid brick while gas flow is changed be-
can be described as follows: tween 505 and 1,248C are obtained by ANSYS ther-

 mal analysis. Then, the equivalent convection
@ @T coefficient between stave heat surface and gas flow are
kðTÞ ¼ 0; i ¼ 1; 2; 3 ð5Þ
@xi @xi calculated by the Newton cooling formulas [(10), (11)].
The temperature, heat flux and coefficients of heat
where i are x,y,z axis, respectively. transfer of heat surface listed in Table 1.
Boundary conditions:
Between atmosphere and stave qb
hzb ¼ ð10Þ
tg  t0b
@T
x¼0 k ¼ hk ðTk  Ta Þ ð6Þ qd
@x hzd ¼ ð11Þ
tg  t0d
Between cooling stave and cooling water [5]
Relationship between heat transfer coefficient and
@T furnace gas temperature is shown in Fig. 4. It can be
k ¼ hwb ðTwb  Tw Þ ð7Þ
@n observed that equivalent convection coefficients hzb
and hzd increase with the increase of the gas flow
@T
y ¼ 0; k ¼0 ð8Þ temperature. The difference between hzb and hzd is not
@y distinct when gas flow temperature is low, whereas they
@T are distinct different when gas flow temperature is
z ¼ 0; H k ¼0 ð9Þ high.
@z
By regressive analysis, the relationship between
equivalent convection coefficients and gas flow tem-
220mm perature is expressed as the following mathematical
160mm formula:

In-laid
Stave body brick

High temperature
Atmosphere gas flow Table 2 The physical properties of the stave body and in-laid
brick[6]
Stave body z
S
H y Item Density Conductivity Specific heat
x
(kg/m3) coefficient capacity
50mm
(W/m C) (kJ/kg K)
Steel pipe
Stave body 7,800 52.2–0.025t 500
In-laid brick 2,400 21–0.009t 963 + 0.147t
Fig. 3 Three-dimensional schematic of model

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Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309 1307

400
of stave is silicon carbide powders tamped, whose
data of the reference[5]
data of the reference[6]
surface is rough relative to stave body surface.
Coefficient of heat transfer/w/( (m °C)

350 hzb In this test, the flow speed of gas is calculated by

2

hzd
300 BVn ¼ vAl
250
where B is the wastage of fuel, 50 kg/h; Vn is the gas
200 quantity, 14.51 m3/kg; Al is the section area of hearth,
1.72 m2. Therefore, the flow speed of gas v=7.03 m/s.
150 Reynolds number is calculated by
100
vl
Re ¼ ð14Þ
50 vgas

400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 where l ¼ 4Ap is the characteristics length, m with wet-
l

Gas temperature/°C ting perimeter p = 0.928 · 2 + 1.856 · 2 = 5.568 m.

Fig. 4 Relationship between heat transfer coefficient and fur- The calculated values of vgas, kg, a and Re are listed in
nace gas temperature Table 3. It is indicated from the values that the flow
belongs to turbulent flow.
Therefore, the heat transfer in the test furnace can
hzb ¼ 51:576 þ 0:044tg þ 2:755  105 tg2 R ¼ 0:986 be regarded as turbulent flow convection heat transfer
ð12Þ in a pipe. According to the Dittus–Boelter formula
(15), the convection heat transfer coefficient between
hzd ¼ 112:310  0:124tg þ 1:595  104 tg2 R ¼ 0:970 gas flow and stave is given as follows [15]
ð13Þ Nu ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr0:4 ð15Þ
The equivalent convection coefficient between the

kg vl 0:8 vgas 0:4
thermal surface of BF stave and gas flow, in-laid brick hc ¼ 0:023 ð16Þ
l vgas a
and gas flow is different from the references [5, 6], as
shown in Fig. 4.
In this test, hc is 71 W/m2 C, 63 W/m2 C, 57 W/m2 C
and 54 W/m2 C when gas temperature is 505, 800,
1,080 and 1,248C, respectively.
4 Discussion
4.2 Radiation heat transfer
It is reported that the equivalent convection coefficient
between gas flow and stave or gas flow and in-laid brick
The heat transfer existing simultaneously convection
does not exhibit distinct difference [5, 6]. However,
heat transfer and radiation heat transfer is called
from the above results, an obvious difference can be
compound heat transfer based on the view of radiation
observed when gas flow temperature is high.
heat transfer. In view of gas radiation, the heat flux of
It is well known that the heat transfer process be-
radiation heat transfer between gas flow and stave is
tween gas flow and stave consists of convection and
described as follows [15]
radiation.
"

#
Tg 4 Tb 4  
4.1 Convection heat transfer q ¼ 5:67 eg  ag ¼ hr Tg  Tb ð17Þ
100 100
The condition of gas flow and geometry character of
Table 3 The values of vgas, kg, a and Re calculated [15]
heat transfer surface are analyzed presume that the
factors effecting convection heat transfer such as origin Gas temperature vgas · 106 kg · 102 a · 108 Re
of flow, whether existing phase transition or not and (C) (m2/s) (W/m C) (m2/s)
the physical property of flow are under the same 505 77.2 6.60 122.6 112,519
condition. 800 131.8 9.15 219.7 65,907
The tested stave, made of cast steel, is usually used 1,080 192.5 11.58 337.1 45,125
1,248 232.4 13.05 415.0 37,377
at MAGANG 300 m3 BF. The swallow-tailed groove

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1308 Heat Mass Transfer (2007) 43:1303–1309

Table 4 Average emissivity of gas to stave The question how to select the values of heat
transfer coefficient between gas flow and stave is
Gas temperature Average emissivity
Tg (K) of gas to stave eg solved;
2. The reason that the equivalent convection coeffi-
778 0.223 cient between gas flow and in-laid brick differs
1,073 0.198
1,353 0.150 from that between gas flow and stave body is ex-
1,521 0.129 plained based on heat transfer analysis. The
equivalent convection coefficients calculated and
tested are basically coherent;

Table 5 The equivalent convection coefficients calculated and tested

Gas hc (W/m2 C) Between gas and stave Between gas and brick
temperature
Tg (K) Radiation heat Calculated Tested heat Radiation heat Calculated heat Tested heat
transfer heat transfer transfer transfer transfer transfer
coefficients coefficients coefficients coefficients coefficients coefficients
(W/m2 C) (W/m2 C) (W/m2 C) (W/m2 C) (W/m2 C) (W/m2 C)

778 71 17.8 88.8 80 20.4 91.4 88

1,073 63 32.5 95.5 108 43.8 106.8 124
1,353 57 58.1 115.1 127 70.9 127.9 153
1,521 54 72.9 126.9 152 132.8 186.8 212

where hr is the coefficient of radiation heat transfer, W/
m2 Ceg ag are the average emissivity of gas to stave
and the absorptance of gas, respectively; Tg Tb are the
temperatures on the hot surface of gas and stave,
respectively.
In this test, the difference between eg and ag is not
noticeable, the formula (17) can be changed to
  
hr ¼ 5:67eg Tg2 þ Tb2 Tg þ Tb =1004
3. The viewpoint just using the equivalent convection
coefficient between gas flow and stave while cal-
culating heat transfer model is changed. The use of
two kinds of the equivalent convection coefficient
will increase the accuracy of heat transfer numer-
ical calculation.
ð18Þ References

1. Steiger RW, Braun RE, Grundtisch DP (1985) Utilization of

The values of average emissivity of gas to stave eg
which obtained by reference [15] is listed in Table 4.
The equivalent convection coefficients calculated
and tested are given in Table 5.
From the Table 5, the heat transfer coefficient
between gas flow and in-laid brick is higher than that
between gas flow and stave body, especially when gas
flow temperature is high. The equivalent convection
coefficient between gas and stave is the sum of heat
transfer coefficient of convection and radiation. It is
seen from Table 5 that the equivalent convection
coefficients calculated and tested are basically
coherent.
5 Conclusions
1. The models of equivalent convection coefficient
between gas flow and stave body, gas flow and in-
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