Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer of Slab in the pusher-Type Preheat Furnaces

The objective of this study is to find the temperature distribution of a slab as it moves through the pusher-type preheat furnaces. First, the imaginary planes method (IPM) as a new and applicable method for calculation of radiation heat transfer in industrial furnaces is studied, and the two-dimensional form of this method is used to calculate heat flux and temperature distribution in the furnace enclosure. Next, the equation for the conduction heat transfer in a finite-difference form is developed for slabs and, finally, using IPM to calculate heat flux distribution on slabs surface, temperature distribution is obtained in the steady state condition. Keywords: Pusher-type preheat furnace, Finite difference, imaginary planes method