Numerical simulation of the shell cooling of a rotary kiln

Year 2024, Volume: 10 Issue: 3, 670 - 679, 21.05.2024

Bouhafs Mohammed Meghdir Abed Bouchentouf Ikram Mimouna

Abstract

The rotary kiln is considered the heart of cement manufacturing plants, so any malfunction can lead to significant losses for the company. These equipment’s are exposed to very high thermal stresses through the three modes of heat transfer, conduction, convection, and radiation. They are also subject to very important mechanical stresses at the level of the drum shell, the tires, the mass of refractory bricks, and the formation of the crust inside the kiln during start-up. The temperature of the flame is around 2000 °C, that of the internal material of the kiln can exceed 1450 °C, and the external temperature of the drum shell can reach 500 °C, particularly in the burning zone. These temperatures can lead to elastic and even plastic deformations. The aim of our study is to numerically simulate the cooling of the drum shell, in its burning zone over a length of 17 m, by placing 72 square-shaped fins on its external surface. This study is a continuation of another one that has already been published [1]. The numerical method used is the finite element method as implemented in the ANSYS Workbench calculation code. The results presented are based on the distribution of the external temperature of the drum shell in the burning zone for different cases. The results obtained show a decrease in the external temperature of the drum shell of about 40% in the case of a drum shell equipped with fins compared to one without fins.

Keywords

Efficiency, Fins, Heat Transfer, Rotary Kiln, Shell, Temperature Distribution

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