MODEL FOR BURDEN DISTRIBUTION TRACKING IN THE BLAST FURNACE

Abstract

A model of the distribution of burden layers in blast furnaces with bell-type charging equipment was developed on the basis of a radar measurement of the vertical level of the burden in one radial point. The measurement was utilized in combination with equations for the dump volume and the repose angle of the charged material. The parameters of two half-lines, which intersect in the point where the (calculated) trajectory of the charged material ends, were estimated by solving a least-squares fit problem. The performance of the model was first illustrated on artificial data, followed by a tuning and an application to process data from two distinct periods of operation of a Finnish blast furnace. It was demonstrated that the model was able to capture the general behavior of the charging process and that it could be used as a tool for tracking changes in the burden distribution in operating blast furnaces.

Keywords:

• blast furnace
• burden distribution estimation
• radar measurement