Annals of the Assembly for International Heat Transfer Conference 13

ISBN 1-56700-225-0 / CD 1-56700-226-9

Year 2006

A. Habibi
Ghent University - UGent, Ghent, Belgium; and Fund of Scientific Research - Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen)

B. Merci
Dept. of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University - UGent, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

G. D. Stefanidis
Fund of Scientific Research - Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen)

G. J. Heynderickx
Fund of Scientific Research - Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen)

Thermal cracking of hydrocarbons is an endothermic process that takes place in tubular reactor coils suspended in large gas-fired pyrolysis furnaces. Heat transfer to the reactor tubes is mostly due to radiation from the furnace refractory walls and flue gas. A 3-D simulation is performed for the solution of the flow field in the radiation section of an industrial scale thermal cracking furnace. The renormalization group (RNG) k − ε model is used for modeling of turbulent transport. Chemical kinetics is modeled by a three step reaction mechanism and the turbulence-chemistry interaction is taken into account through the Finite Rate/Eddy Dissipation model. Discrete-transfer, Discrete-ordinates, P-1 and Rosseland radiation models are used for modeling of radiative heat transfer. The absorption coefficient of the mixture is calculated from weighted-sum-of-gray-gases model (WSGGM). The effect of different radiation models on the predicted wall, tube skin and flue gas temperature profiles as well as on structure of the furnace flames under normal firing conditions is investigated.

RAD-14 pages DOI: 10.1615/IHTC13.p4.140 Download article

Article price - $35.00

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