Modeling of Coke Particle Breakage in Blast Furnace Considering Pore Structure by Discrete Element Method

Cokes play an important role in the blast furnace as a spacer for maintaining gas permeability. Since blast furnaces with large inner volumes exceeding 5000 m3 are now common in Japan, use of high strength coke has become a crucial issue for modern blast furnaces. However, general methods for evaluating coke strength, for example, the drum test, are insufficient for understanding the breakage behavior of coke in detail. In order to evaluate the coke breakage behavior in blast furnaces, a coke breakage model based on the discrete element method (DEM) with cluster particles and parallel bonds was developed.