Solid-fluid characteristics at the blast furnace hearth according to the nodal wear model (NWM)

The coke porosity is one of the most important variables that can affect the pig iron production and the lining corrosion. Up to now, the existing bibliography about lining corrosion always connects a deeper wear to an increase in the fluid flow (pig iron) at the blast furnace hearth. However, there is no evidence of any deterministic model that could link, from the theoretical point of view, the following variables: lining corrosion, porosity of dead coke and flow of pig iron at the hearth. Besides justifying the lining corrosion profiles, the Nodal Wear Model (NWM) can be an effective instrument to interpret the coke porosity and the pig iron speed rates that are generated inside the hearth. (Author) 23 refs