CFD Study for Air Distribution in Hydrogen Reformer Furnace

The uniform flow rate is a fundamental requirement in the design of air distributors for the hydrogen reformer furnace. Constraints of flow rate primarily demands on configuration of air distributors. Particularly for the air with different temperature, velocity and pressure, an even distribution of air distributors is especially important. Air distributors containing one inlet and eleven outlets are connected with burners so that uniform flow rate of each outlet is required. Based on CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method, temperature, velocity and pressure distribution in the air distributors are simulated. The results show that flow rate is sensitive to the rate of pressure and velocity change but not for temperature change. The maldistribution of each outlet cannot accord with engineering standard. So, it is necessary to take some methods to decrease the maldistribution of each outlet. The dampers exist at each outlet are controlled individually. Hence, the flow rate can be constrained by adjust pressure according to the proportion of maldistribution.