Abstract

The blast furnace hearth refractory system is exposed to complex chemical attacks and thermal and mechanical loads. The hearth is a region of primary concern since excessive refractory failure and degradation limits the furnace campaign life due to premature and costly repairs. It is therefore essential to understand and monitor the hearth conditions including the temperature distribution as well as refractory and skull thicknesses. Acousto-Ultrasonic Echo (AU-E) and thermal modeling are widely used by the industry to non-destructively estimate the refractory conditions in the blast furnace hearth. This paper presents a novel methodology to simultaneously utilize AU-E and thermocouple / cooling system data and take advantage of both methods to improve accuracy of hearth condition predictions. Example applications of this assessment methodology on blast furnaces are discussed. This assessment methodology can be used to prolong the blast furnace campaign life.