Abstract
Themo-mechanical analysis was carried out using the finite element method for the steel shell of a cupola furnace. When the outer surface of the shell was cooled with water to within the temperature range of 35-80 ℃ during operation of the cupola, the inner surface of the shell was expected to exhibit a temperature of 65-248 ℃ based on heat transfer analysis. The shell was also expected to have an equivalent stress range of 100-280 MPa in the outer surface over the temperature range examined. Upon cooling the shell to obtain an outer surface temperature <80 ℃, the maximum equivalent stress of the shell did not exceed the yield strength. Although the temperature of the outer surface varied between 35 and 80 ℃ periodically due to the cooling control problem, the fatigue stress at the outer surface of the shell was calculated to be within the fatigue strength. During a non-operational period to examine the system between furnace operations, the thermal stress presented in the shell was sufficiently low to reach the desired yield strength and fatigue limit.