This paper presents the methodology for determining thermal strains and stresses during heating the charge in a rotary furnace. The calculations were made with the original software, which uses the finite element method. The heat transfer boundary conditions used for computing were verified on the basis of industrial tests. Good compatibility between the experimental data and numerical calculations was obtained. The possibility of the material cracking occurrence was checked for a set exhaust gas temperature distribution on the furnace length. As a result, it was possible to develop steel heating curves characterized by short process times.

Heat consumption and steel loss for scale determine the costs of a heating process. The heating rate influences both. This paper evaluates the heating rate of a long charge made of three various materials, depending on the changes of the furnace atmosphere on the rotary furnace circumference. Numerical computing was performed based on a formulated heat transfer model in the rotary furnace chamber, while considering the growth of the scale layer. One heating curve was selected, which has allowed the heating time to be reduced by 36% while limiting the scale loss by 40%. It was also shown that the thermal stresses and strains should not lead to fractures of the charge heated.

The inverse solution to the heat flux identification during the vertical plate cooling in air has been presented. The developed solution allowed to separate the energy absorbed by the chamber due to radiation from the convection heat losses to air. The uncertainty tests were carried out and the accuracy of the solution has been estimated at a level of 1%-5% depending on the boundary condition model. The inverse solution was obtained for the temperature measurements in the vertical plate. The stainless-steel plate was heated to 950°C and then cooled in the chamber in air only to about 30°C. The identified heat transfer coefficient was compared with the Churchill and Chu model. The solution has allowed to separate the radiation heat losses and to determine the Nusselt number values that stay in good agreement with the Churchill and Chu model for a nearly steady-state air flow for the plate temperature below 100°C.

Heat transport when two surfaces of solids come into contact is an important phenomenon in many metallurgical processes. Determining the boundary conditions of heat transfer allows to obtain the correct solutions of the heat conduction equation. The paper presents models for determining the heat transfer coefficient between steel materials in contact. Experimental tests were carried out to measure the temperature changes of the contacting samples made of steel S235 (1.0038) and steel 15HM (1.7335) under the pressure of 10, 15 and 20 MPa. There was a large temperature difference between the samples. The results of the experiment were compared with numerically calculated temperatures and the value of the heat transfer coefficient was determined at different pressure values depending on the time.

Determining the boundary conditions of heat transfer in steel manufacturing is a very important issue. The heat transfer effect during contact of two solid bodies occurs in the continuous casting steel process. The temperature fields of solids taking part in heat transfer are described by the Fourier equation. The boundary conditions of heat transfer must be determined to get an accurate solution to the heat conduction equation. The heat flux between the tool and the object processed depends mainly on temperature, pressure and time. It is very difficult and complicated to accomplish direct identification and determination of the boundary conditions in this process. The solution to this problem may be the construction of a process model, performing measurements at a test stand, and using numerical methods. The proposed model must be verified on the basis of parameters which can easily be measured in industrial processes. One of them is temperature, which may be used in inverse methods to determine the heat transfer coefficient. This work presents the methodology for determining the heat flux between two solid bodies staying in contact. It consists of two stages – the experiment and the numerical computation. The problem was solved by using the finite element method (FEM) and a numerical program developed at AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow. The findings of the conducted research are relationships describing the value of the heat flux versus the contact time and surface temperature.