Optimizing Sinter Cooler Charging System with Altair® EDEM™: A Case Study on ArcelorMittal
Technology Category
- Sensors - Flow Meters
- Sensors - Liquid Detection Sensors
Applicable Industries
- Life Sciences
- Mining
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Digital Twin
- Virtual Reality
Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
ArcelorMittal is the world’s leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking facilities in 17 countries. The company employs more than 190,000 people. In a recent project, the company's R&D team was tasked with optimizing a large-scale charging chute of a sinter cooler plant in Fos-Sur-Mer. The goal was to improve the reliability and efficiency of this device by identifying a better design that improved granular segregation, abrasion, and mechanical resistance.
The Challenge
ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company, faced a challenge in optimizing a large-scale charging chute of a sinter cooler plant in Fos-Sur-Mer. The objective was to improve the reliability and efficiency of the device by identifying a better design that enhanced granular segregation, abrasion, and mechanical resistance. The process of charging hot material into the sinter cooler often led to particle segregation, causing severe problems such as fire issues on conveyor belts and sinter quality issues. The R&D team needed to investigate these segregation patterns, particularly the impact of particle sizes and the effect of the filling ratio on the segregation patterns in the trolleys of the sinter strand. However, simulating granular flows in a large system compared to the particle size was complex and time-consuming. The team needed a modelling strategy that balanced computational efficiency and physical realism.
The Solution
ArcelorMittal R&D team used Altair® EDEM™, a high-performance software for granular material simulation, to simulate and analyze the granular flows in the charging chute. EDEM provided pre-calibrated material models, enabling the engineers to create and calibrate their model to match the physical experiments. The engineers first analyzed the segregation patterns in the trolleys of the sinter strand, which were in good agreement with the experimental measurements at the plant. They then performed a sensitivity study using different particle sizes to determine whether finer materials would change the segregation pattern. The results revealed that the size of the particles had no effect on the segregation patterns. The team also studied the effect of the filling ratio on granular flow patterns, finding that a large filling ratio led to an even distribution while a low filling ratio had a negative effect. Using these results, the engineers virtually tested different charging chute scenarios to find a design that met all requirements regarding capacity and mechanical resistance.
Operational Impact
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