Heat Transfer—Asian Research, 30 (8), 2001

A Study of Heat Transfer in High-Performance Hydrogen

Bell-Type Annealing Furnaces

Yi Zuo,1 Wen-fei Wu,1 Xin-xin Zhang,1 Lin Lin,1 Shun-hua Xiang,2 Tie-shu Liu,2
Long-ying Niu, 2 and Xia-lan Huang2
1
Department of Thermal Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
2
Equipment Research Department, Shanghai Baosteel Research Institute, China

The mechanisms of heat transfer in high-performance hydrogen bell-type

annealing furnaces are discussed in this paper. It examines two important parameters,
the convective heat transfer coefficient and the equivalent radial thermal conductivity,
which have large effects on the overall heat transfer in the furnace. The calculated
annealing curves are in good agreement with experimental data. © 2001 Scripta
Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(8): 615–623, 2001

Key words: HPH furnace, heat transfer, convection, thermal conductivity

1. Introduction

A bell-type annealing furnace, using 100% hydrogen atmosphere gas, was developed and
introduced in the steel industry in the late 1970s. It is now generally known as a high-convection/H2
(HICON/H2) or high-performance hydrogen (HPH) bell-type annealing furnace. Replacing the
conventional nitrogen–hydrogen mixing atmosphere (95% N2 and 5% H2 in general) with 100%
hydrogen gas, the furnace combines the advantage of the pure hydrogen atmosphere heat treatment
with the high convection technology. Its capacity may be increased by 40 to 60%, and its product
quality may be improved significantly [1]. The present study focuses on the mechanisms of the heat
transfer in the HPH furnace. Two important parameters, the convective heat transfer coefficient and
the equivalent radial thermal conductivity of steel coils, have been discussed, and the temperature
history of steel coils has been compared with experimental data.

Nomenclature

CP specific heat of steel, J/(kg °C)

Df hydraulic diameter of flow passage, m
h convective heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2 °C)
Lf length of flow passage at the point of interest, m
L0 gap number, which is utilized to describe the compressive stress of coil
q heat flux, W/m2
Rii inner radius of coil “i,” m
Rio outer radius of coil “i,” m
© 2001 Scripta Technica
DOI 10.1002/htj.10007
615
 S thickness of strip, m
T temperature, °C
Tm mean temperature of adjacent strips, K
V velocity of atmosphere gas, m/s
Wi width of coil “i,” m
ε emissivity
λ thermal conductivity, W/(m⋅C)
µ dynamic viscosity, Pa⋅s
ξ intensity coefficient due to recirculation flow
ρ density, kg/m3
σ Stefan–Boltzman constant 5.67 × 10–8 W/(m2K4)
ϕ ratio of contact area to whole interface area

Subscripts

0 initial status of coil

g atmosphere gas
i coil “i”
R radiation
r radial direction of coil
s steel

Superscripts

b bottom surface of coil

i inner surface of coil
o outer surface of coil
t top surface of coil

2. Analysis of Heat Transfer in HPH Furnace

In terms of heat transfer, an annealing cycle in the HPH furnace can be divided into two
processes: the heating process and the cooling process. The heating process comprises the heating
step and the soaking step. From setting up a heating hood and igniting burners, the heating step
operates until the measurement temperature at the bottom of the coils reaches the designated annealing
point (710 °C in general). During the next step, steel coils are soaked at a constant temperature
according to the annealing technology. The heating process ceases when two indispensable conditions
are satisfied: (1) the coil temperature reaches the one required by the annealing technology and (2)
the temperature difference between the cold and hot points of the coils decreases to a value less than
30 °C.

The cooling process can be subdivided into three steps: cooling with a heating hood, cooling
with a cooling hood, and rapid cooling. During the cooling with the heating hood, the fuel is shut off,
and the combustion air, blown through the burners, scrubs heat off the inner cover to achieve the
cooling effect. At the end of this step, the heating hood is removed and replaced by a forced convection
cooling hood. In the cooling with the cooling hood, the air at room temperature is drawn by

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 Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of heat transfer mechanisms in HPH furnace during a heating process.

recirculation fans at the top of the cooling hood. When the control temperature falls to a certain value,
the rapid cooling system may operate automatically to accelerate the cooling process by means of
either bypass-cooling or spray-cooling technique. The annealing cycle completes when the tempera-
ture of the coils reaches the value required by the annealing technology.

The heat transfer scheme in the HPH furnace during the heating process is shown in Fig. 1.
The inner cover plays an important role in the heat transfer. Through the cover, the steel coils are
heated in the heating process and cooled in the cooling process. The heat transfer between the inner
cover and coils takes place by convection through circulating hydrogen and thermal radiation. The
heat transfer outside the inner cover is closely correlated to the annealing steps.

3. Mathematical Model of Heat Transfer

As shown in Fig. 2, the two-dimensional heat conduction equation within the coil can be
written as follows:

∂Ti 1 ∂  ∂Ti  ∂  ∂Ti  (1)

(ρsCP) = rλr  + λs 
∂t r ∂r  ∂r  ∂z  ∂z 

with the initial condition

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 Fig. 2. The coordinate system for use with Eq. (1).

Ti(r, z) = T0 (t = 0, Rii ≤ r ≤ Rio; 0 ≤ z ≤ Wi) (2)

and the boundary conditions

∂Ti (3)
−λr  = hi[T ig − Ti(Rii, z)] + qiR (r = Rii, 0 ≤ z ≤ Wi)
∂r r = Rii

∂Ti
+λr = ho[Tog − Ti(Rio, z)] + qoR (r = Rio, 0 ≤ z ≤ Wi) (4)
∂r r = R io

∂Ti
−λs = h0[T bg − Ti(r, 0)] + qbR (z = 0, Rii ≤ r ≤ Rio) (5)
∂z z = 0

∂Ti
+λs = ht[T tg − Ti(r, Wi)] + qtR (z = Wi, Rii ≤ r ≤ Rio) (6)
∂z z = W i

The convective heat transfer coefficient, h, and the equivalent radial thermal conductivity of
the coil, λr, are two important parameters, which will be discussed next.

4. Convective Heat Transfer Coefficient

Convection is the main heat transfer mode in the HPH furnace. The overall convective heat
transfer coefficient is given as follows [2]:

−0.8

0.7
 (7)
V 0.8  µg   Df 
h = 0.023ξ λg   1 +   
D0.2
f  ρg    Lf  

Equation (7) clearly shows that h is dependent on the velocity and the thermal properties of
the atmosphere gas. Note that the density of hydrogen is merely 1/14 that of nitrogen, while the

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 Fig. 3. The convective heat transfer coefficient as a function of the gas velocity of hydrogen and
nitrogen gases at various temperatures.

dynamic viscosity of hydrogen is 1/2 that of nitrogen. Figure 3 shows h as a function of the gas velocity
of hydrogen and nitrogen gases. It is evident that h of hydrogen is higher than that of nitrogen.

5. Equivalent Radial Thermal Conductivity of a Coil

A coil obviously contains thousands of wraps (or layers) of strips. There exists a thermal
contact resistance between any two layers as shown in Fig. 4(a). Generally, the thermal resistance in
the radial direction is much larger than that in the axial direction. Figure 4(a) shows various heat
transfer mechanisms between two layers of the coil in the radial direction, which consists of two
half-thickness strips and an interface. In order to simplify the calculation, the following hypotheses
are proposed: (1) the thermal properties depend only on the mean temperature of the unit; (2) the
cylindrical interface is simplified to plane; (3) all of the thermal resistances are derived under the
assumption of a steady-state heat transfer. Figure 4(b) shows schematically the modeling of heat
transfer a between two layers of the coil, where RSI / 2, RD, RG, RR are the thermal resistances by
conduction through the half thickness of the strip, conduction through contact points, conduction
through the atmosphere gas, and radiation through the interface, respectively; RCT is the contact
thermal resistance [3, 4], which is derived from the redistribution of heat flow through the contact
point. All of the above thermal resistances have the same unit, m2 °C/W. The equivalent radial thermal
conductivity λr can be expressed as

λr 1 + L0
= (8)
λs −1
   ϕ
(1 − ϕ) + 
SL0 1
1 + λsL0  λg + 3  
 (2 − ε) / (4εσTm   1 / λ s + RCT ϕ / (L S)
0  

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 A. Conduction through hydrogen λg

B. Radiation through interface ε

C. Conduction through contact point λc

D. Conduction through steel λs

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of modeled unit layer of a coil in the radial direction.

Fig. 5. The ratio of the equivalent radial thermal conductivity of coil to the conductivity of steel for
hydrogen and nitrogen atmospheres.

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 Fig. 6. The ratio of equivalent radial thermal conductivity in hydrogen atmosphere to the
conductivity of steel with different ϕ as a function of temperature.

Because the thermal conductivity of the hydrogen gas is approximately 7 times as large as
that of the nitrogen gas, the use of the hydrogen gas can improve the radial thermal conductivity. As
shown in Fig. 5, the equivalent radial thermal conductivity for the nitrogen atmosphere ranges from
a few percent to as much as 16% of the steel conductivity at a coil temperature of 700 °C; however,
it increases to as high as 59% for the hydrogen atmosphere at the same temperature.

As shown in Eq. (8), aside from the thermal properties of steel and atmosphere gas, ϕ and L0
are two important factors. Figures 6 and 7 show the ratio of the equivalent radial thermal conductivity
in hydrogen atmosphere to the conductivity of steel as a function of temperature for different ϕ and
L0, respectively. The equivalent radial thermal conductivity rises with the increase of ϕ and the

Fig. 7. The ratio of equivalent radial thermal conductivity in hydrogen atmosphere to the
conductivity of steel with different L0 as a function of temperature.

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 Fig. 8. Comparison of the calculated values and experimental data.

decrease of L0. Furthermore, the equivalent radial thermal conductivity becomes identical that of the
steel when ϕ is greater than 10%.

6. Numerical Simulation for an Annealing Cycle

Figure 8 shows calculated and experimental annealing curves in the form of coil temperature
at the core and edge of the strip over time. From this comparison, it is clear that the numerical
simulation results are in good agreement with experimental data.

6. Conclusions

1. A mathematical model for heat transfer in the HPH furnace has been established, and the
temperature history of steel coils in an entire annealing process has been achieved. The numerical
results are in good agreement with experimental data.

2. Two important parameters, the convective heat transfer coefficient and the equivalent radial
thermal conductivity, have been analyzed in detail.

3. Through the comparison studies with hydrogen and nitrogen atmosphere gases, it has been
shown that the use of HPH annealing technology can enhance the heat conduction inside a steel coil
and improve heat transfer conditions outside the steel coil.

Literature Cited

1. Enghofer RA, Mueller TE, Kuzdal JL, Mates JM. Experience with 100% hydrogen annealing
at LTV’s Indiana Harbor No. 3 sheet mill. Iron Steel Eng 1990;67:25–29.

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 2. Perrin AR, Guthrie RIL, Stonehill BC. The process technology of batch annealing. Iron Steel
Making 1988;15:27–33.
3. Yin X, Degiovanni A. Study of contact thermal resistance between two coaxial cylindrical
layers (I): Mathematical model. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing
1996;18:383–386.
4. Yin X, Degiovanni A. Study of contact thermal resistance between two coaxial cylindrical
layers (II): Parameter analysis. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing
1996;18:464–467.

"F F F"

Originally published in Industrial Heating, 6, 2000, 9–11.

Translated by Yi Zuo and Xin-xin Zhang, Department of Thermal Engineering, School of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, People’s Republic of
China.

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