Numerical simulation and optimisation of bubbling on float glass furnace. Part 1: The bubbling influence on glass fluid flow

摘要

Bubbling has been a constant feature in the float glass furnace since the inception of this melting technology. Although bubbling can enhance glass quality, economize energy consumption, and stabilise the production process, the quality of products from some float glass production lines after using bubbling are worse than when they are not used. The main reason is that bubbling affects the flow of the molten glass in a furnace, and the effects may be beneficial or harmful to the quality of the final glass product. In this paper, molten glass in a China typical float glass furnace is taken as the research object, and the mechanism of action of bubbling on the glass flow in the furnace was studied in detail through simulation. The beneficial and harmful factors of bubbling to the glass will be analysed and discussed, and scientific and reasonable explanations and optimisation suggestions will be given. This work is the first part of this study. The conditions with and without bubbling were compared by the VOF model, and the influence of bubbling on the temperature field, velocity field, and overall liquid circulation of molten glass were explored. Specially, on the basis of study, this paper proposes the principle of the rational distribution of the glass fluid flow under the bubbling conditions. This work can advance understanding of the effect of bubbling on the fluxing, homogenisation and regularity of molten glass, as well as on the flow regularity of the glass liquid flow, and provide the theoretical basis and preconditions for the optimisation of the proposed bubbling related parameters.