Prediction of Flow and Erosion in Power Utility Boilers and Comparison With Measurement

Multidimensional simulations of both flue gas and fly ash (solid particle) flows with application to erosion prediction in the economisers of coal-fired power utility boilers are reported. A computer code specifically designed for power utility boilers, DS4PUB (Design Software for Power Utility Boilers), was used for the calculations. The major area of erosion often occurs at the economizer of the boiler and depends on the particulate velocity and concentration so that computational results include the economizer inlet distribution of the mean flue gas and particulate velocities, and fly ash concentration. The computer code was validated by comparisons with previously available experimental data and recently performed measurements for flue gas flow velocity, dust burden, and erosion rates at the inlet of economizers in large operating power stations. The results of the multidimensional simulations agreed reasonably well with the experimental measurements. An important finding of this study is that the transverse location of maximum erosion in the economizer tube bank strongly depends on the upstream geometric design of the boiler. For boilers with a shorter turning flow path, the maximum erosion is found to be close to the rear wall of the economizer because both the maximum particulate velocity and concentration occur in this region. For configurations with a long flow path, which includes a splitter plate, the maximum erosion region was found to be closer to the front wall of the economizer, mainly due to the high flow velocity in this region. A relatively high erosion area close to the side and rear wall was also found because of the high concentration of large fly ash particles in this area. Interesting features of fly ash flow in multidimensional complex boiler geometries such as concentration distributions for different fly ash particle sizes are also discussed.