Simulations of thermomechanical behavior of composite refractory linings

The wall of refractorized vessels are composites, made of metallic casing o ften 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 thos e 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 th ermal and mechanical parameters of the equivalent shell is obtained by an i nverse method in conjunction with finite element analyses of the 3D panel s ubjected to an appropriate set of loadings. Some validation analyses show t hat the identified parameters lead to shell behavior, which is in good agre ement 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 be havior of a complete refractorized vessel and especially to follow the dama ged zones of the refractory. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ah rights reser ved.