Influences of physical properties of particle in discrete element method on descending phenomena and stress distribution in blast furnace

Recently, discrete element method (DEM) had been applied for simulation of the blast furnace. For mitigating computation load and precise simulation of blast furnace, the determination of optimum physical parameters in DEM are very important. In the present study, influence of variation of hardness, rolling friction coefficient of particle and descending velocity on the solid flow and stress distribution in the blast furnace were investigated. Decreasing hardness of particle does not affect on shape of layers descending in the shaft, and causes acceleration of computation. However, stream line of particles and stress distribution vary with changing in hardness of particle. The softening of particle is not suitable for analysis of stream line and stress distribution of packed bed in the blast furnace. Stream lines of particle become smooth with an increase in the rolling friction coefficient. The value of the rolling friction coefficient should be controlled for representing shape of actual burden. It is confirmed that descending velocity of burden also affects on the stress distribution of the packed bed. Physical properties and calculation condition should be optimized depending on the purpose of analysis and phenomena in the blast furnace.