Effect of Thermal Nodes Reduction in Wall Connections of the Charge-Handling Furnace Grates on Thermal Stresses

The paper presents FEM approach for comparative analyses of wall connections applied in cast grates used for charge transport in furnaces for heat and thermal-chemical treatment. Nine variants of wall connection were compared in term of temperature differences arising during cooling process and stresses caused by the differences. The presented comparative methodology consists of two steps. In first, the calculations of heat flow during cooling in oil for analysed constructions were carried out. As a result the temperature distributions vs cooling time in cross-sections of analysed wall connections were determined. In the second step, based on heat flow analyses, calculations of stresses caused by the temperature gradient in the wall connections were performed. The conducted calculations were used to evaluate an impact of thermal nodes reduction on maximum temperature differences and to quantitative comparison of various base design of the cast grate wall connection in term of level of thermal stresses and their distribution during cooling process. The obtained results clearly show which solution of wall connection should be applied in cast grate used for charge transport in real constructions and which of them should be avoided because the risk of high thermal stresses forming during cooling process