Numerical Model of Steel Slab Reheating in Pusher Furnaces

The difficulty in measuring load temperatures inside reheating gas furnaces may be circumvented by appropriate use of on-line numerical models. In this article we describe a model of pusher furnaces, used to reheat steel slabs. The model uses thermocouple measurements at fixed positions inside the furnace to calculate the temperature of the combustion products, and takes into account radiative exchanges among those gases, the furnace refractories and the load. A good correlation is found between a temperature profile measured after the slab leaves the roughing stands and the results of the numerical calculations. We conclude that the model is a powerful tool to monitor the thermal state of the load inside the furnace and is suitable, together with an appropriate control algorithm, to automatically calculate the furnace settings required ensuring the objectives of the heating process.