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477
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3, pp. 477–486
https://doi.org/10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2021-371
* Corresponding author: E-mail: juetang@126.com
© 2022 The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
CCBYNCND
1. Introduction
The raceway was the important reaction zone of blast
furnace (BF), which directly aected the distribution of gas
ow, the heat and mass transfer, the production indexes and
cost.1–5) The circumferential unevenness of raceway would
lead to the inconsistency of circumferential hearth activity,
resulting in the deterioration of burden descent, the bad
smelting environment, the decrease of pig iron quality, and
the damage of BF service life.6–10) Therefore, the research
on the circumferential uniformity of raceway had attracted
much attention in recent years.11–18)
Bugaev et al found that the blast temperature dierence
among all the tuyeres was 150–250°C and the maximum
adiabatic combustion temperature dierence of raceway
was corresponding to 508°C (1 772–2 280°C), when the
Evaluation and Improvement of Circumferential Uniformity for
Blast Furnace Raceway
Jue TANG,*1,2) Zedong ZHANG,1) Quan SHI,1) Mansheng CHU,3,4) Anchuan LIN5) and Yingjie LUO5)
1) School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, 3-11 Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, 110819 China.
2) Liaoning Province Engineering Research Center for Technologies of Low-Carbon Steelmaking, Northeastern University,
3-11 Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang, 110819 China.
3) State Key Laboratory of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, 3-11 Wenhua Road, Heping District, Shenyang,
110819 China.
4) Key Laboratory of Data Analytics and Optimization for Smart Industry, Northeastern University, 3-11 Wenhua Road, Heping
District, Shenyang, 110819 China.
5) Kun Steel Technology Center, 36 Gangkun Road, Anning District, Kuming, 650302 China.
(Received on August 20, 2021; accepted on November 19, 2021; J-STAGE Advance published date:
February 5, 2022)
The bustle pipe model of a running 2 500 m3 blast furnace was established. The local and overall uni-
formity indexes of the raceway were defined and constructed. And then the effects of blast flow rate, the
diameter and length of all tuyeres or No. 2 tuyere on the circumferential uniformity of raceway were
quantitatively evaluated. It was shown that the circumferential uniformity of raceway decreased with the
increasing blast flow rate, and when the blast flow rate increased from 4 300 m3/min to 4 700 m3/min, the
circumferential uniformity index of raceway decreased from 0.1715 to 0.0760. The diameter of tuyere had
a significant effect on the circumferential uniformity, while the length of tuyere showed little influence. The
circumferential uniformity of raceway could be improved by increasing the diameter of all tuyeres or No.
2 tuyere with the minimum blast kinetic energy. When the diameter of all tuyeres increased to 140 mm,
the overall uniformity index of raceway increased to 0.207, but the blast kinetic energy was only about 64
kJ/s which couldn’t meet the smelting. requirement. While the diameter of No. 2 tuyere near the hot blast
main increased to 126 mm, the overall uniformity of the raceway increased to 0.124, and the blast kinetic
energy was 120.11 kJ/s which was still within the reasonable range. it was feasible to improve the circum-
ferential uniformity of raceway by adjusting the diameter of one or some off-average tuyeres but not all.
KEY WORDS: blast furnace; tuyere; raceway; blast kinetic energy; circumferential uniformity.
blast ow rate dierence along circumferential direction
was115–300 m3/min.7) Lyalyuk et al studied a running 5 000
m3 BF and indicated that the blast ow rate, theoretical
ame temperature, bosh gas rate, and blast kinetic energy
along the circumferential direction of the tuyeres had similar
changing trends, and they all showed great inhomogeneity.
Among them, the blast ow rate in front of No. 34 and No.
35 tuyere is 162 m3/min and 249 m3/min respectively, and
its dierence reaches 87 m3/min.8) V. G. Druzhkov et al.’s
work showed that the geometry of tuyere was one of the
reasons for the uneven distribution of hot blast ow rate,
and this uneven distribution was improved by modifying
the hot blast duct.11) Mei Yaguang et al. applied numeri-
cal simulation to study the inuences of tuyere parameter
adjustments on the homogeneity of the raceway in three BFs
with dierent volume, and found that the non-uniformity of
blast ow rate was much obvious when the volume of BF
was relatively large.14)
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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A large number of studies had proved that the circum-
ferential uniformity of raceway played an important role in
blast furnace production.19–24) However, the circumferential
uniformity was usually evaluated by investigating the distri-
bution of each relative parameter along the circumferential
direction, and no eective characterization and quantita-
tive evaluation methods of the circumferential uniformity
of raceway had been proposed. Considering the important
inuence of the blast kinetic energy on the shape of the
raceway and the distribution of gas ow, the blast kinetic
energy was normalized by the principle of statistics, and the
circumdirectional uniformity index of the tuyere raceway
was put forward in this work, which can be used to quanti-
tatively evaluate the uniformity of raceway. Meanwhile, the
hot bustle pipe model of a running 2 500 m3 BF in China
was established to investigate the inuences of the blast
ow rate, the diameter and length of all tuyere and No. 2
tuyere on the circumferential uniformity of raceway. And
the uniformity of raceway was quantitatively evaluated and
the adjustment measures for the good circumferential uni-
formity were nally obtained.
2. Experimental
2.1. Hot Bustle Pipe Model
According to the design parameters of a running 2 500
m3 BF, shown in Table 1, the 3D model of BF hot bustle
pipe model was established, including hot blast main hot
blast bustle pipe, and 30 tuyeres, as shown in Fig. 1. The
hot blast was treated as the isothermal incompressible uid
and described by three-dimensional Reynolds average
Navier-Stokes equations. The pressure-velocity coupling
was described by Simple algorithm. When the calculation
residual was lower than 10 −3
, the calculation was consid-
ered to be convergent.
2.2. Calculation of Raceway Shape and Properties
In this work, the relevant calculation formulas of raceway
shape and properties were given as Eqs. (1)–(6). Where,
xO2 is the oxygen enrichment, %; f is the blast humidity,
g/m3; O2 is the oxygen ow rate, m3/h; n is the number of
tuyere, -; Vb is the dry blast ow rate, m3/min; tb is the blast
temperature, K; E is the blast kinetic energy, kJ/s; DR is the
depth of raceway, m; WR is the width of raceway, m; HR is
the height of raceway, m; VR is the volume of raceway, m3;
pf is the penetration factor, -; DT is the diameter of tuyere,
m;
ρ
0—is the density of bosh gas, kg/m3;
ρ
s is the real den-
sity of coke, kg/m3; Vg is the volume ow rate of nest, m3/
min; Tr is the adiabatic combustion temperature, K; Pb is the
pressure of blast, kPa; DC is the diameter of coke in tuyere,
m; ST is the area of tuyere, m2.
E
xf
g
VO
O
b
=×
×+++
×+
×+
1
2
4021 28 1 000
22 4
60
60 12
2
2
3
[(.)]
.
224
18 000
1 033
1 033 273
1
4
2
22
3
.×
×+
×
×
××
f
P
t
n
b
b
π
DDT
2
2
... (1)
Dp
D
Rf
T
=× ×0 409 0 693
........................ (2)
WD
DD
R
R
T
T
=×
×2 631
0 331
.
.
................... (3)
4878
22 0 721
HD
HD
D
D
RR
RT
R
T
+
×=×
.
.
................. (4)
VD
WH
RR
RR
=×××
053. ..................... (5)
pD
V
S
T
P
f
sC
g
T
r
b
=××
×
×
ρ
ρ
0
3
2
10
60
298
− ......... (6)
2.3. Denition of Local Uniformity Index and Overall
Uniformity Index
This work is proceeded on a running 2 500 m3 BF with
30 tuyeres. Due to the dierence of the position of each
tuyere from hot blast main, the blasting performance varied
greatly. In order to describe the circumferential uniformity
for raceway, the local uniformity index named Ui and the
overall uniformity index named U were proposed according
to the principle of statistical normalization, given as Eqs.
(7) and (8). Where, Ei is the blast kinetic energy at the i th
tuyere, kJ/s;
E
is the average blast kinetic energy, kJ/s; n
is the number of tuyere, -.
U
EEE
EE
i
i
i
=
+
−
1001 001
001
2
;. .
.
()
;
−<<
other ............ (7)
U
n
EE
i
i
n
=
−
=
∑
001
12
1
.
()
....................... (8)
The local uniformity index named Ui ranged from 0 to
1. If the value was close to 1, it was indicated that the
Fig. 1. 3D model of bustle pipe model for a running 2 500 m3 BF.
(Online ver sion in color.)
Tab le 1. Related para meters and dimensions of bustle pipe.
Vol u me
of BF
/m3
Number
of tuye re
/-
Diameter
of main
/mm
Diameter of
bustle pipe
/mm
Diameter
of tuyere
/mm
Length
of tuye re
/mm
2 500 30 2 700 2 700 120 300
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uniformity had the small deviation from the average at this
tuyere. Meanwhile, if the overall uniformity index is large,
the circumferential uniformity showed good. Based above,
the evaluation system for the circumferential uniformity of
raceway was established.
2.4. Boundary Condition of Simulation
During the simulation, the blast system showed good
insulation, the hot blast was treated as the isothermal
incompressible turbulence and its temperature was constant
while owing, the standard K -
ε
two-equation model was
used, the wall surface was set as a non-sliding wall surface,
the ow near the wall surface was treated by wall function,
and the exit boundary was treated by pressure condition.
Meanwhile, the blast temperature, blast humidity, oxy-
gen enrichment and coal pulverized coal injection ratio
remained unchanged at 1 450 K, 0.44 g/m3, 4.35% and 149
kg/t, respectively. The inuences of the blast ow rate, the
changes of all tuyeres’ parameters, the changes of No. 1
tuyere’s parameters on the circumferential uniformity of
raceway were investigated in this work. The blast ow rate
varied from 4 300 to 4 700 m3/min, the diameter of tuyere
varied from 100 to 120 mm, and the length of tuyere varied
from 200 to 400 mm. The base of these parameters was the
value of the present running 2 500 m3 BF, which was 4 500
m3/min, 120 mm, and 300 mm, respectively.
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. Flow Field Analysis of Hot Bustle Pipe
The velocity distribution in front of No. 1–30 tuyere
under the base condition was shown in Fig. 2. The velocity
at the front of each tuyere showed a trend of symmetrical
distribution along the center line of the hot blast main.
As the distance between hot blast main and hot bustle
pipe increased, the blast velocity reduced rstly and then
increased, and it was symmetrical along the center line of
the blast main. The velocity in front of No. 16 tuyere that
far from hot blast main is the largest of 222.38 m/s, while
it in front of No. 2 tuyere that near the hot blast main is the
smallest of 220.0 m/s.
The distributions of velocity streamline (a) and pressure
(b) in hot bustle pipe were shown in Fig. 3. At the junction
of the hot blast main and hot bustle pipe, the hot blast veloc-
ity streamline dispersed outward with rst loose and then
dense tendency, and tended to be stable at the position far
from hot blast main, after entering the branch pipe, and the
velocity increased due to the decreasing diameter of branch
pipe. Correspondingly, the pressure of hot blast gradually
decreased and tended to be stable with the hot blast dius-
ing, after entering the branch pipe, the pressure increased
greatly under the reduction of pipe diameter.
3.2. Eect of Blast Flow Rate on the Circumferential
Uniformity of Raceway
The radar diagram of the raceway properties under dier-
ent blast ow rates was shown as Fig. 4. With the increase
of blast ow rate, the concerned parameters increased con-
tinuously. Meanwhile, the inuence of changing blast ow
rate on the blast kinetic energy, the depth and volume of
raceway was greater than that on the linear velocity. When
the blast ow rate increased from 4 300 m3/min to 4 700
m3/min, the maximum dierence of blast kinetic energy
increased from 2.418 kJ/s to 4.968 kJ/s correspondingly.
Based on the calculation results of the blast kinetic
energy, the circumferential local uniformity index and over-
all uniformity index were analyzed and shown in Figs. 5 and
6 respectively. The local uniformity index was symmetrical
along the center line of the blast main and had the maxi-
mum values at No. 8 and No. 23 tuyere, which meant that
the kinetic energy at those tuyere were cloest to the average
value. As the blast ow increased, the value of peaks on the
local uniformity curves increased. The overall uniformity
index decreased with the increasing blast ow rate, which
was 0.1715, 0.1484, 01090, 0.0953 and 0.0760, respectively.
Due to the increasing blast volume, the turbulence eects
in the hot bustle pipe and branch pipe was intensied, the
rubbing action between the pipe wall and hot blast was
enhanced, and the drag losses of the hot blast increased,
therefore, the overall uniformity of blast furnace raceway
would be destroyed.
Fig. 2. Radar diagram of the velocity distribution in f ront of each
tuyere under base condition.
Fig. 3. Distributions of velocit y streamli ne (a) and pressure (b) in hot bustle pipe. (Online version in color.)
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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3.3. Eect of Changing All Tuyeres’ Parameters on the
Circumferential Uniformity of Raceway
3.3.1. Eect of Changing All Tuyeres’ Diameter
The changes of the raceway properties under dierent
diameter of all tuyeres were given as Fig. 7. With the
increasing diameter of all tuyeres, the velocity of hot blast
in front of tuyere, the blast kinetic energy, the depth and
volume of raceway gradually decreased, and the decrease of
each parameter was much obvious. The raceway properties
under dierent diameter were similair and showed the sym-
metrical distribution along the center line of the hot blast
main. It could be attributed to the pressure loss caused by
changing the diameter of all tuyeres were equally alloted to
each tuyere. When the diameter of tuyere was 100 mm, the
Fig. 4. Radar diagram of the raceway properties under dierent blast ow rates. (Online ver sion in color.)
(b) Blast kinetic energ y/(kJ/s)(a) Hot blast velocity/(m/s)
(c) Deepth of raceway/m (d) Volume of raceway/m3
Fig. 5. Circumferential local uniform ity of raceway under dierent blast ow rates. (Online version in color.)
Fig. 6. Circumferential overall u nifor mity of raceway under dif-
ferent blast ow rates. (Online version i n color.)
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(a) Hot blast velocity/(m/s)
(b) Blast kinetic energ y/(kJ/s)
(c) Deepth of raceway/m
Fi g. 7. Changes of the raceway properties under dierent diameter of all tuyeres. (Online version i n color.)
(d) Volume of raceway/m3
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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Fig. 8. Circumferential local uniformity of raceway under dierent diameter of all tuyeres. (Onl ine version in color.)
Fig. 9. Circumferent ial overall unifor mity of raceway under dif-
ferent diameter of all tuyeres. (Online version in color.)
maximum kinetic energy dierence was 7.351 kJ/s, while
the diameter of tuyere was 140 mm, the kinetic energy dif-
ference was only 1.738 kJ/s. The reason for this phenom-
enon was that as the tuyere increased, the pressure loss in
blast pipes were reduced, which had an important eect on
the raceway properties.
The circumferential local uniformity of raceway under
dierent diameter of all tuyeres was given in Fig. 8. The
local uniformity index of raceway was symmetrically dis-
tributed along the center line of hot blast main, and the
large local uniformity indexs distributed around No. 8 and
No. 23. As the diameters of tuyeres increased, the local
uniformity index curves rose and the indexes at No. 8 and
No. 23 had an obvious increasing. The circumferential
overall uniformity of raceway under dierent diameter of
all tuyeres was shown as Fig. 9. When the diameter tuyere
increased from 100 mm, 110 mm, 120 mm, 130 mm to 140
mm, the overall uniformity index of raceway was 0.0445,
0.0749, 0.109, 0.154, and 0.207, respectively, and the cir-
cumferential overall uniformity was signicantly improved.
As the increase of all tuyeres’ diameter, the drag losses of
the hot blast in the pipes was reduced and would weaken the
rubbing interactions between the pipes wall and hot blast.
Then the steady owing of the hot blast was improved. All
of these would result in the increasing overall uniformity of
raceway. However, the blast kinetic energy decreased dra-
matically when the diameter of all tuyeres increased. When
the diameter was 140 mm, it was shown a remarkable drop
in blast kinetic energy from about 256 kJ/s to 64 kJ/s which
couldn’t meet the reasonable requirement of BF production.
3.3.2. Eect of Changing All Tuyeres’ Length
The changes of the raceway properties under dier-
ent length of all tuyeres were shown as Fig. 10. With the
increasing length of all tuyeres, the velocity of hot blast
in front of tuyere decreased slightly, and the phenomenon
was more distinct at the No. 2, No. 15, No. 16 and No. 29
tuyeres. Under the experimental conditions, the velocity of
hot blast was between 220 m/s and 223 m/s. Compared with
changing the diameter of all tuyere, changing the length
of all tuyere had less eect on the velocity of hot blast.
The variation trend of kinetic energy was consistent with
that of velocity. As the length of all tuyeres increased, the
blast kinetic energy decreased slightly. When the length of
tuyere was 200 mm and 400 mm, the maximum dierence
of the blast kinetic energy was 3.129 kJ/s and 3.634 kJ/s,
respectively.
The circumferential local uniformity and overall unifor-
mity of raceway under dierent length of all tuyeres was
shown as Figs. 11 and 12, repectively. As the increase of
length of all tuyeres, the local uniformity indexes at No. 8
and No. 23 increased, and the circumferential uniformity
of raceway decreased slightly. When the length increased
from 200 mm to 400 mm, its uniformity was 0.1229, 0.1161,
0.1090, 0.1025 and 0.0944 separately.
3.4. Eect of Changing No. 2 Tuyere’s Parameters on
the Circumferential Uniformity of Raceway
According to the above study, it was indicated that the
blast kinetic energy was greatly aected by changing the
parameters of all tuyeres, which brought the bad inuences
of BF smelting. Especially, as the diameter of all tuyeres
increased, it had a sharp decrease in the blast kinetic energy.
Moreover, the blast speed at No. 2 and No. 29 tuyeres were
relatively small and the minimum values appeared at No.
2. It means that the parameters of these two tuyeres had an
signicant eects on the uniformity of raceway. The cir-
cumferential uniformity for blast furnace raceway could be
improved by increasing the blast kinetic energy of the two
tuyeres especially the No. 2 tuyere. Therefore, the eect of
changing No. 2 tuyere parameters on the circumferential
uniformity of raceway was investigated and discussed.
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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(b) Blast kinetic energ y/(kJ/s)(a) Hot blast velocity/(m/s)
Fig . 10. Changes of the raceway properties under dierent length of all tuyeres. (Online version in color.)
(c) Deepth of raceway/m (d) Volume of raceway/m3
3.4.1. Eect of Changing No. 2 Tuyere’s Diameter
The changes of the raceway properties under dierent
diameter of No. 2 tuyere were shown as Fig. 13. With the
diameter of No. 2 tuyere increasing, the blast velocity of No.
2 tuyere decreased distinctly, and the blast kinetic energy
increased gradually. This phenomenon could be explained
by two main reasons. Firstly, the area of No. 2 tuyere was
enlarged and the blast velocity decreased. Secondly, as the
diameter of No. 2 tuyere increased, the drag of hot blast in
the pipe decreased, the volume of hot blast increased, and the
blast kinetic energy increased. In fact, changing the single
tuyere such as No. 2 tuyere had little eects on the other tuy-
eres, and both the velocities and blast kinetic energy of other
tuyeres decreased a little. When the diameter of No. 2 tuyere
Fig. 11. Circumferential local un iform ity of raceway under dierent length of all tuyeres. (Online version in color.)
Fig. 12. Circumferential overall uniformity of raceway under dif-
ferent length of all tuyeres. (Online version in color.)
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was 114 mm and 126 mm, the velocity of hot blast, the
blast kinetic energy, the depth and volume of raceway were
225.00 m/s and 214.46 m/s, 116.45 kJ/s and 120.11 kJ/s,
1.663 m and 1.688 m, 0.707 m3 and 0.684 m3, respectively.
The circumferential local uniformity and overall unifor-
mity of raceway under dierent diameter of No. 2 tuyere was
shown as Figs. 14 and 15, respectively. With the increase of
No. 2 tuyere diameter, the local uniformity index of No. 2,
No. 8 and No. 23 raised obviously, and the overall uniformity
was also improved. It was mainly because that the increase
degree of the blast kinetic energy at No. 2 tuyere was evident
and gradually tend to the equal value leading to the good
uniformity of raceway. When the diameter of No. 2 tuyere
gradually increased from 114 mm to 126 mm, the overall uni-
formity index of was 0.0723, 0.0932, 0.109, 0.119 and 0.124.
Therefore, changing the diameter of No. 2 tuyere was benet
to enhance the uniformity, but the improvement was limited.
In practice, the circumferential uniformity of raceway could
be advanced by adjusting the diameters of some special and
o-average tuyeres, such as the No. 29 tuyere near the blast
main with low blast speed, the No. 15 and No. 16 tuyeres far
from the blast main with high blast speed.
3.4.2. Eect of Changing No. 2 Tuyere’s Length
The changes of the raceway properties under dierent
length of No. 2 tuyere was shown in Fig. 16. When the
Fig. 13. Changes of the raceway properties under dierent diameter of No. 2 tuyere. (Online version in color.)
(b) Blast kinetic energ y/(kJ/s)(a) Hot blast velocity/(m/s)
(c) Deepth of raceway/m (d) Volume of raceway/m3
Fi g. 14. Circumferential local uniformity of raceway u nder dierent diameter of No. 2 tuyere. (Online ver sion in color.)
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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length of No. 2 tuyere increased gradually, the concerned
parameters of raceway changed little, and the circumfer-
ential distributions of all parameters were still symmetrical
with the center line of hot blast main. The raceway proper-
ties of No. 2 tuyere showed a slight reduced trend with the
increasing of No. 2 tuyere length. The circumferential local
and overall uniformity of raceway under dierent length of
No. 2 tuyere was seen in Figs. 17 and 18. With the length
of No. 2 tuyere increasing, the circumferential local uni-
formity of the raceway uctuated greatly, and the overall
uniformity index increased from 0.1154, 0.1141, 0.1090,
0.1045, and 0.1027 sligtly. In general, changing the length
of No. 2 tuyere near the hot blast main had little eect on
the circumferential uniformity of raceway.
(b) Blast kinetic energ y/(kJ/s)(a) Hot blast velocity/(m/s)
Fig. 16 . Changes of the raceway properties under dierent length of No. 2 tuyere. (Online version in color.)
(c) Deepth of raceway/m (d) Volume of raceway/m3
Fig. 15. Circumferential over all un iformity of raceway under d if-
ferent diameter of No. 2 tuyere. (Online version in color.)
Fi g. 17. Circumferent ial local u nifor mity of raceway under dierent lengt h of No. 2 tuyere. (Online version in color.)
ISIJ International, Vol. 62 (2022), No. 3
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4. Conclusion
(1) The velocity of hot blast in front of the tuyere was
generally distributed symmetrically along the center line of
the hot blast main, and the velocity at the far end of the hot
blast main was large, while that at the near end was small.
The increase of blast ow rate would lead to the decrease of
circumferential uniformity of raceway. When the blast ow
rate was 4 700 m3/min, the circumferential overall unifor-
mity index of raceway was only 0.0760, which was lower
than 0.1715 when the blast ow rate was 4 300 m3/min.
(2) The circumferential uniformity of raceway was
improved by changing the diameter of all tuyeres, but the
blast kinetic energy decreased gradually. When the diameter
of all tuyere was 140 mm, the circumferential overall uni-
formity index of raceway was 0.207, which was obviously
better than 0.0445 when the diameter was 100 mm, how-
ever, the blast kinetic energy was only about 64 kJ/s which
couldn’t meet the requirement of BF smelting. On the other
hand, changing the length of all tuyeres had little eect on
the uniformity circumferential of raceway.
(3) With the diameter of No. 2 tuyere increasing, the
blast velocity of No. 2 tuyere decreased distinctly and the
blast kinetic energy increased gradually. Changing the
single tuyere such as No. 2 tuyere had little eects on the
other tuyeres. When the diameter of No. 2 tuyere increased
from 114 mm to 126 mm, the overall uniformity of the
raceway increased from 0.0723 to 0.124, and the blast
kinetic energy increased from 116.45 kJ/s to 120.11 kJ/s. In
addition, changing the length of No. 2 tuyere near the hot
blast main had little eect on the circumferential uniformity
of raceway.
(4) The diameter of tuyere had the most signicant
eect on the circumferential uniformity of raceway. Increas-
ing the diameter of all tuyere or the tuyere near the hot
blast main could enhance the circumferential uniformity
to dierent degrees. In practice, it was feasible to improve
the circumferential uniformity of raceway by adjusting the
diameter of one or some o-average tuyeres but not all.
Acknowledgments
The authors are especially grateful to the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51904063), the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(N2025023), the Plan of Xingliao Talents (XLYC1902118),
and 111 Project (B16009).
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Fig . 18. Circumferential local uniformit y of raceway under dier-
ent length of No. 2 tuyere. (Online version in color.)
