Flow and Heat-Transfer Simulation Based on CFD and Experimental Study during High-Pressure Gas Quenching

Abstract

High-pressure gas quenching is the heat treatment technology which quenches the works by use of high-pressure and high-speed flow gas. FLUENT software is used to simulate the process of gas-solid coupling flow and heat transfer in the nozzle-type vacuum high-pressure gas quenching furnace. The hot wire anemometer is used to measure the inlet velocities of nozzles, which provides the boundary conditions for computer simulation. By the computer simulation, the gas flow fields, work temperature fields and work cooling curves are attained. The results show that the big eddy current occurs at the corner of the furnace and the cooling rate of the work is slow there. Contrasting the simulating result of work cooling rate at the center of furnace with the actual measured one by the thermocouple, we find when work is cooled to the temperature of 430K, the simulating result is faster than the actual one about 50 seconds. The simulating results basically correspond with the actual trend of the gas quenching.

Optimization of furnace residence time and loading pattern during heat treatment of large size forgings

“…The effect of vortical structures and loading pattern on the heat treatment process and temperature history of small scale products had been mentioned in the numerical study of Wang and Shang [31] who investigated the flow and heat exchange in the high-pressure gas quenching chamber.…”

Influence of Spacers and Skid Sizes on Heat Treatment of Large Forgings within an Industrial Electric Furnace

“…Arkhazloo et al [9], investigating the thermal interactions inside an industrial gas-fired furnace, reported the significant effect of stacking patterns (such as their relative locations and distances) on the uniformity of the tempering process. Such influence on the temperature uniformity of the product was also mentioned by Wang and Shang [15] and Macchion et al [32] in their numerical studies of small-scale steel parts' heat treatment within a high pressure gas quenching chamber. According to Macchion et al [32], the temperature uniformity of the product was significantly affected by the position of parts within the furnace.…”

“…Recently, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), offering the simultaneous analysis of turbulent fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer, has been employed in several studies on the thermal analysis of industrial furnaces [13][14][15][16]. Studies comprising Harish et al [17] and Zhang et al [13], or recently published papers such as those by Mayr et al [18], Tang et al [19], and Liu et al [20], employed CFD simulations to investigate the heating procedure in different continuous reheating furnaces (for instance, pusher type furnaces or walking beam furnaces).…”