Numerical Investigations on the Enhancement of Convective Heat Transfer in Fast-Firing Brick Kilns

Julian Unterluggauer (), Manuel Schieder, Stefan Gutschka, Stefan Puskas, Stefan Vogt and Bernhard Streibl
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Julian Unterluggauer: Austrian Institute of Technology, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Manuel Schieder: Austrian Institute of Technology, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Stefan Gutschka: Austrian Institute of Technology, 1210 Vienna, Austria
Stefan Puskas: Wienerberger AG, 1100 Wien, Austria
Stefan Vogt: Wienerberger AG, 1100 Wien, Austria
Bernhard Streibl: DrS3—Strömungsberechnung und Simulation e.U., 1110 Wien, Austria

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: In order to reduce CO 2 emissions in the brick manufacturing process, the effectiveness of the energy-intensive firing process needs to be improved. This can be achieved by enhancing the heat transfer in order to reduce firing times. As a result, current development of tunnel kilns is oriented toward fast firing as a long-term goal. However, a struggling building sector and complicated challenges, such as different requirements for product quality, have impeded developments in this direction. This creates potential for the further development of oven designs, such as improved airflow through the kiln. In this article, numerical flow simulations are used to investigate two different reconstruction measures and compare them to the initial setup. In the first measure, the kiln height is reduced, while in the second measure, the kiln cars are adjusted to alternate the height of the bricks so that every other pair of bricks is elevated, creating a staggered arrangement. Both measures are investigated to determine the effect on the heating rate compared to the initial configuration. A transient grid independence study is performed, ensuring numerical convergence and the setup is validated by experimental results from measurements on the initial kiln configuration. The simulations show that lowering the kiln height improves the heat transfer rate by 40 % , while the staggered arrangement of the bricks triples it. This leads to an average brick temperature after two hours which is around 130 °C higher compared to the initial kiln configuration. Therefore, the firing time can be significantly reduced. However, the average pressure loss coefficient rises by 70 % to 90 % , respectively, in the staggered configuration.

Keywords: brick manufacturing; heat transfer; computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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