Numerical prediction of the flow structure inside components of industrial glass furnace systems

An important aspect in the glass production industry is related to the heat recovery of the combustion gases. It is usually obtained throughout the use of well-tested technologies, such as regenerative towers with refractory material. For an effective heat recovery, a good distribution of the flow rate at the entrance of the chambers is crucial. The use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) allows the detailed analysis of the gas evolution during the process; the same would be impractical with experimental measurements, due to prohibitive ambient local conditions. The CFD approach during the design phase typically considers CAD geometries without the level of details related to technological features of the actual installed configuration (i.e. sharp edges vs rounded edges). A brand new built furnace has blunt edges in every connection between 3D walls of refractory blocks. The above edges will be rounded by the erosion-corrosion process due to the harsh chemical/mechanical/thermal environmental conditions inside the plant components (i.e. regenerative chambers, connecting ducts, furnace). The purpose of this work is to evaluate the influence of the geometrical details of the CAD (with focus on the edges connecting adjacent walls), due to technological or erosion aspects, on the flow structure in the furnace components.