Numerical and experimental study of temperature distribution on thermal plant coal mill walls

This article presents results of a numerical and experimental study of the temperature distribution inside and on the walls of the ventilation mill in the Kostolac B power plant, Serbia. This is very important because heat exchange between gas mixtures, ventilation mill walls and the environment, influences coal powder temperature, the combustion process, and the emission of greenhouse gases. The most complex multi‐phase model in the Euler‐Euler approach has been used through the ANSYS FLUENT code, for the numerical simulation of temperature distribution. Two ventilation mill models have been considered, one with zero wall thickness and the other one with steel walls, with and without insulation. An infrared thermographic camera was used for monitoring the temperature distribution on the outside wall of the ventilation mill housing, before insulator reparation, while after the reparation measurements were carried out at the selected points with infrared thermometer. The experimental results were used for verifying the results of the numerical simulation method as well as for detecting the damaged insulation. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 1517–1527, 2017