Simulations of thermomechanical behavior of composite refractory linings

The wall of refractorized vessels are composites, made of metallic casing often containing tubes and a refractory material for the protection against the high temperature environment. The objective of the present paper is to model a two layer shell with a thermomechanical behavior equivalent to those of the 3D Lining and that render possible the finite element analysis of the complete vessel. A smeared crack model is used for the damage analysis of the refractory material. The equivalent shell is made up of an exterior orthotropic layer and an interior isotropic damageable layer. The set of thermal and mechanical parameters of the equivalent shell is obtained by an inverse method in conjunction with finite element analyses of the 3D panel subjected to an appropriate set of loadings. Some validation analyses show that the identified parameters lead to shell behavior, which is in good agreement with those of the 3D wall. In the case of a simplified cyclone, it is shown that the equivalent shell permits to compute the thermomechanical behavior of a complete refractorized vessel and especially to follow the damaged zones of the refractory. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ah rights reserved.