Development of an optimal slab heat pattern calculation simulator for reheat furnaces.

To improve energy consumption and to meet quality requirement for slab heating process of reheat furnaces in hot strip mills, a new optimal slab heat pattern calculation simulator has been developed.The simulator consists of the following functions;(1) two-dimensional (slab thickness direction and slab length direction) slab temperature calculation function, which is capable of calculating skidmark along the length of a slab, (2) furnace heat balance calculation function, (3) optimizing calculation function of slab heat pattern using linear programming method.The developed simulator has been installed into a furnace computer control system for actual plant.This paper describes the functions of the simulator and simulation results using the simulator.