DYNSIM Best Practices 3 - Furnace

AVEVA™ Dynamic Simulation
Furnace Modeling Guidelines

Version 2022
April 2022
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Publication date: Monday, March 28, 2022
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Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................... 5
Fundamental Calculations of a Fired Heater .......................................................... 6

Radiant Heat Transfer ...........................................................................................................................6
Heat Transfer from Gas to Tubes ...........................................................................................................7
Heat Transfer from Refractory to Tubes .................................................................................................7
Heat Transfer from Refractory to the Surroundings ................................................................................7
Lumped Radiant Coefficients .................................................................................................................8
Convection Section ...............................................................................................................................8
Heat Streams ........................................................................................................................................8
Flash Calculations .................................................................................................................................9
Reactions ..............................................................................................................................................9
Configuration of Gas Nodes in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation ................................. 10
Furnace Modeling ............................................................................................... 12

General Description ............................................................................................................................ 12
Tube Passes Details ............................................................................................................................. 14
Convective Heat Transfer Tab .............................................................................................................. 18
Reactions Tab ..................................................................................................................................... 19
Feeds and Products Tab ...................................................................................................................... 20
Thermo Tab ........................................................................................................................................ 21
Combustor .......................................................................................................................................... 21
Example 1 ........................................................................................................... 25
Feeds and Products Tab ...................................................................................................................... 26
Basic Tab ............................................................................................................................................ 28
Tuning ................................................................................................................................................ 29
Radiation Heat Transfer ...................................................................................................................... 30
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© 2022 AVEVA Group plc and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Page 3
Convective Heat Transfer Tab .............................................................................................................. 32
Thermo Tab ........................................................................................................................................ 33
Fuel Gas and Air Network .................................................................................................................... 34
Example 2 ........................................................................................................... 37
Convection Section F101 ..................................................................................................................... 38
Feeds and Products Tab ............................................................................................................................. 38
Basic Tab ..................................................................................................................................................... 40
Radiant Heat Transfer ................................................................................................................................ 41
Convective Heat Transfer Tab .................................................................................................................... 43
Radiation Section F101A ..................................................................................................................... 45
Radiation Section F101B...................................................................................................................... 49
Troubleshooting Issues while Modeling a Furnace ............................................................................... 52
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Introduction
Fired Heater models a direct-fired process heater and the process heater is a direct-fired exchanger, which uses
the hot gases of combustion to elevate the temperature of feed flowing through the coils of tubes, aligns
through the heater. This Fired Heater model design allows flexibility for diverse applications in the chemical
process industry such as refineries, gas plants, petrochemicals and synthetics, olefins, ammonia and fertilizer
plants. Based on the nature of application, it may be termed as a fired heater or a furnace.
Fired Heater simulates both radiant and convective heat transfer to one or more tube passes. The flue gas side
(firebox) is a pressure node with a Compressible holdup and the tube passes (process) are flow device(s) with
Incompressible holdup. Also, the firebox can include multiple tube passes as well as multiple gas nodes. Each
tube pass resides in a single gas node. Although the pressure is the same for each gas node, a separate energy
balance is maintained for each gas node to calculate heat transfer from the gas to the tubes.
Fired Heater excludes the combustion calculations. A separate Combustor model can be used to produce hot
combustion gas to feed the Fired Heater, or heat can be added directly to the appropriate gas node.
The firebox includes the thermal capacitance of the refractory walls, which can radiate heat to the tubes and
transfer heat to the surroundings. Also, the thermal capacitance of the tube walls is modeled.
A convective section can be modeled with an additional gas node where radiant heat transfer coefficients are
set to zero.
Fired Heater includes a capability to calculate its internal heat transfer coefficient from reference conditions.
These reference conditions can either be supplied from plant data or from a furnace design program.
Fired Heater also supports reactions for individual tube passes.
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Fundamental Calculations of a Fired Heater
The firebox has a Compressible model to calculate pressure dynamics. Since the firebox is assumed to operate at
a single pressure for all gas nodes, the overall pressure calculation must be decoupled from the energy balance
for each gas node. Consequently, the following equation is used to compute the firebox pressure:
where:
Ff - Forward flow (kg-mol/sec)
Fr - Reverse flow (kg-mol/sec)
P - Firebox pressure (kPa)
Vol - Firebox volume (m3)
Kdps - Pressure derivative scale factor
R - Average fluid density in the gas nodes (kg-mol/m3)
Radiant Heat Transfer

The principle mode of heat transfer is from the gas to the tubes. This heat transfer occurs due to both radiant
and convective modes. However, radiant heat transfer dominates during normal operation. While convective
heat transfer requires the surface area of the tube bundle for its calculations, radiant heat transfer requires the
projected surface area that can be considered a plane surface. This is sometimes referred to as the cold plane
surface area. This area can be calculated for each tube pass using the following equation:
where:
Atr - Projected cold plane area (m2)
Nt - Number of tubes passes
Len - Length of tube (m)
Spacing - Center to center spacing between the tubes (m)
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AVEVA™ Dynamic Simulation Furnace Modeling Guidelines
Heat Transfer from Gas to Tubes

Each gas node models the radiant heat transfer from the gas to each tube pass in that specific gas node.
where:
Atr - Projected cold plane area (m2)
Kgts - Overall gas to tube radiant scale factor (dimensionless)
Kgt - Overall gas to tube radiant coefficient (dimensionless)
Qgtr - Radiant transfer from gas to a tube pass (kJ/sec)
σ- Stefan-Boltzmann constant (kJ/m/sec/K4)
Tg - Gas node (bridge wall) temperature (K)
Tt - Tube skin temperature (K)
The gas node has forced and natural convective heat transfer coefficient accounting for heat transfer from fluid
to the tube. At high inlet fluid flow rate, the heat transfer is by forced convection and at low fluid flow rates, the
heat transfer is by natural convection.
Heat Transfer from Refractory to Tubes

Each gas node models the radiant heat transfer from the refractory to each tube pass in the gas node. There is
no convective heat transfer from the refractory to the tubes.
where:
Atr - Tube area projected or cold plane area for radiant heat transfer (m2)
Krts - Overall refractory to tube radiant scale factor (dimensionless)
Krt - Overall refractory to tube radiant coefficient (dimensionless)
Qrt - Radiant transfer from refractory to tubes (kJ/sec)
σ- Stefan- Boltzmann constant (kJ/ m2/sec/K4)
Tt - Tube skin temperature (K)
Tr - Refractory temperature (K)
Heat Transfer from Refractory to the Surroundings

The loss heat transfer coefficient accounts for the heat transfer from the refractory to the surroundings.
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where:
Ar - Total area of refractory surface for the gas node (m2)
Tamb - Ambient temperature (K)
Tr - Refractory temperature (K)
Ql - Heat loss from refractory to surroundings (kJ/sec)
Ul - Loss heat transfer coefficient (kW/m2-K)
A negative value of Ql indicates that the refractory is at a higher temperature than ambient.
Lumped Radiant Coefficients

In radiant heat transfer calculations, an overall or lumped radiant coefficient is used based on the hot surface
emissivity, cold surface emissivity, and view factor. If these values are known, user may calculate these overall
coefficients using the following equation:
where:
Khc - Lumped radiant coefficient, which can be Kgr, Kgt, or Krt (dimensionless)
a - Direct effectiveness or "view" factor
εh - Hot body emissivity, which can be either gas or refractory (dimensionless)
εc - Cold body emissivity, which can be either refractory or tube (dimensionless)
Convection Section
A convection section can be modeled by creating a second gas node. The tubes in this gas node can be modeled
with no radiant heat transfer by setting the overall radiant to zero.
Heat Streams
Heat transfer from an external source to the flue gas can be configured through heat streams. These heat
streams should originate from any source that performs heat transfer calculations and sets Q in the heat stream,
such as Utility Exchanger. Any number of heat streams can be connected.
Fired Heater supports external heat input directly to the fluid through the parameters Qimp.
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Flash Calculations
AVEVA™ Dynamic Simulation application uses a vapor only flash for the flue gas section. The Internal Phases is
set to Vapor, while External Phases is set to Mixed.
Reactions
Fired Heater also supports reactions in the tube pass. A RXN sub-model can be included in the tube passes, if the
reactions are enabled.
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Configuration of Gas Nodes in AVEVA
Dynamic Simulation
Typical configurations of Gas nodes – Radiation, Convection, and Economizer (BFW to steam) with three tube
passes
Typical configurations of Gas nodes – Radiation and Convection with eight tube passes
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Configuration of Gas Nodes in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation
Typical configurations of Gas nodes – Radiation and Convection as two different model objects with eight
tube passes
Typical configuration of Gas node – Radiation with eight tubes passes
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Furnace Modeling
General Description
Furnace designs vary as to their function, heating duty, type of fuel, and method of introducing Air. However
most process furnaces have some common features and these features are discussed in the same order as they
appear in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation Fired Heater Data Entry. Starting with the P&ID and the Furnace data
sheet.
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Furnace Modeling
Furnace P&ID
From the screen shot of the data sheet and the P&ID, it is clear that there are three sections -- Radiation,
Convection, and Superheat. Process fluid flows through Radiation and Convection sections and steam through
Superheat section. These three sections are of different heat flux Zones, so they need to be represented by a
different gas node -- namely Radiation, Convection, and Superheat for steam. Use one gas node to represent
each section (this is a simple case and other complicated cases will be discussed at a later stage in this document
with examples).
The process fluid is also divided into two passes, where the two passes are going through Radiation section (two
passes) and Convection section (two passes), and this gives 2+2=4 tube passes for process and one tube pass for
the steam, which finally gives three gas nodes and five tube passes for Furnace configuration.
Select the Fired Heater from process equipment icon pallet, place it on the flow sheet, and enter the number of
gas nodes and number of tube passes in the configuration window of the furnace as shown below.
Fired heater configuration form.
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Furnace Modeling
Right-click on the furnace and select Data Entry option.
Fired Heater Data Entry Window
Basic tab contains the following items to be calculated and filled:

Firebox volume is the volume occupied by flue gas in the furnace before it enters the stack.
Furnaces are either BOX TYPE (rectangular box) or VERTICAL TYPE (cylindrical type), and if the drawings are
available, firebox dimensions can be obtained and the calculated volume can be entered directly in the specified
units. [Flue gas side is a compressible pressure Node in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application, it is
recommended to give a good estimate of firebox volume, changing the volume once the model is tuned might
lead to model crashes.]
Volume is important so the furnace dimensions are important. In this example, volume is available from the
customer in an Microsoft Excel® sheet and it is 237 m3.
Refractory Mass refers to mass of the refractory in firebox, this value is important as the rate of heating and
cooling the furnace depends on this mass during startup and shutdown. If refractory mass is not available, it has
to be tuned during shutdown and startup. Usually, Radiation section has more refractory mass than the
convection section. The refractory mass has to be an ideal value.
Tube Passes Details

We need to provide the location of tube passes, in which gas nodes they are located. Tube details, such as
number of tubes, diameter, length, and tube thickness, are usually provided in the data sheet. Tune the
Conductance for reasonable pressure drop and care needs to be taken when the process fluid changes phase.
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Furnace Modeling
Convective area = [Number of tubes] (in each pass)*3.14(Pi)*[Diameter of tube] (outer diameter)*[Length of
tube]
Volume of the tube = [Number of tubes] (in each pass)*3.14(Pi)*[square of Diameter of tube] (inside
diameter)*[Length of tube]/ [4]
Metal mass = ([volume of the tube based on outer diameter] – [volume of the tube based on inner
diameter])*[density of the material]
Note: If density of the material is not available, use density of Carbon steel (generally heat exchanger tubes
contain Molybdenum as the major constituent usually nine Cr or five Cr with carbon steel)
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Furnace Modeling
Radiant Heat Transfer Tab
Radiant Heat Transfer tab with check box to use reference conditions
If the check box in Radiant Heat Transfer tab is checked then all coefficients in this tab are calculated by AVEVA
Dynamic Simulation application. Specify the Gas reference temperature, reference refractory temperature,
reference tube temperature, and reference Tube heat duty. Values obtained here can be used as starting tuning
parameters.
Gas node Refractory Area: This is the surface area of the refractory material in respective gas nodes. (This is the
surface area of the walls along which the tubes are arranged in the furnace. For a box type furnace, it will be a
rectangle and for a cylindrical type it will be a cylinder). Even for this, the data sheet with dimensions is
compulsory.
Overall, coefficient gas to refractory determines the amount of heat transferred from gas to refractory material.
This coefficient is tuned to attain the required refractory temperature and if correct design values are used, this
coefficient remains less then one. Higher values can make the model unstable.
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Furnace Modeling
Radiant Area (cold plane): This is the surface area of tubes exposed to the refractory material. (As circular tubes
are exposed to refractory, only projected area is taken into account.) Cold area = [number of tubes]*[length of
tube]*[diameter of tube].
Note: In most of the cases, where the design data is available, a good starting point for tuning is default
coefficients. For further tuning of the coefficients, heat absorbed in the Radiation section should be 75-80% of
the total heat absorbed by process fluid. Also, to have a good dynamics during startup and shutdown, heat to be
absorbed through radiation from gas to process fluid and the refractory to process fluid should be 40-60%,
In Normal design convention, the total heat absorbed by the process fluid is 65-70% through radiation and the
rest 30-35% is through convection (both in radiation section and convection section).
Convective Heat Transfer tab
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Furnace Modeling
Convective Heat Transfer Tab

In AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application, the Convective Heat Transfer calculations are similar to a heat
exchanger, so we need to provide the reference flows. The default reference flows provided are mostly on the
high side for both the gas nodes and tube passes. If reference flows are not available, 1.5*steady state value for
the process will be a good estimate for tube passes, also 1.5*steady state value is a good estimate for the gas
node.
The basis for tuning the heat transfer coefficient is:
In the Radiation section, there is forced convection taking place and the amount of heat transferred because of
the convection is about 10% of the total heat absorbed.
In the Convection section, normally all the heat transferred is due to convection and accounts for 20-25% of the
total heat absorbed by process fluid.
For tuning purposes we will need the following temperature profiles:
TG(Gas node temp) > TR(Refractory temp) > TT(Tube metal temp) > TF(Process fluid temp) and in some of the
applications, due to short residence time (SRT) of the process fluid, the temperature difference between tube
metal and process fluid is as high as 200oC.
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Furnace Modeling
Reactions Tab
Reactions can be enabled on the process side, and for this select the tube pass in which reactions are to be
enabled and check the Enable reactions tab. This is, however, not required as the SRU (Sulfur Recovery Unit),
where the reactive furnace is used in the process is modeled differently.
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Furnace Modeling
Feeds and Products Tab
Feeds and Products tab

The process side streams are connected to appropriate tube passes and tube passes numbering can be from top
to bottom or vice-versa.
For long and narrow firebox (cylindrical type furnaces), furnace has to be modeled with more gas nodes to get
better temperature profiles.
There are two sides to the heat exchanger, one side gives heat (flue gas side) and the other side receives
(process side) stream.
The process side always flows through the tubes and can be split into many passes as used in AVEVA Dynamic
Simulation application.
Flue gas side splits into a number of gas nodes or sections of the furnace, for example, Radiation section and
Convection section. There are special furnaces which may require more radiation sections or different
arrangements.
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Furnace Modeling
Thermo Tab
Choose appropriate Thermo for the process. On completion of the data entry, the completed AVEVA Dynamic
Simulation flow sheet looks like Combustor and Furnace flow sheet figure.
Combustor
Combustor/Burner is an essential part of a furnace and, depending on the firing methods, burners in vertical
cylindrical furnaces are mostly located at the bottom and fire upward. Other furnaces may have side/opposed
fired burners to combust the fuel and air to produce heat. If a furnace has to be lit, it is done using a pilot flame
which works using an ignition transformer and mostly remains lit. The pilot lights, which generally uses natural
gas, is used to light the main flame.
Fired Heater in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application does not include the combustion calculations and as feed
to the Fired Heater, a separate Combustor model is used to produce hot flue gases. Combustor is a flow device
in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application and has different fuels types options to compute the outlet conditions
of the gas:
1. Feed components
2. Natural gas
3. Fuel oil
4. Ultimate analysis
There is a provision in the Combustor model to start the combustion through a pilot command. As combustion
can only take place if a pilot is lit, the pilot command has to be linked such that if any of the pilot burners in a
furnace is ON, pilot command should be made 1 (where 1 is ON and 0 is OFF).
Typically, a number of pilot and main burners are available in a furnace depending on the heat requirement on
the process side. Also, the number of ON burners depend on the heat requirement. Pilot command should
remain ON when the main burner or any one single burner is ON.
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Furnace Modeling
Both, the number of pilot and main burners, is usually represented in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application
using a slider or a button for each pilot and main burner. The gas flow to the burners is also dependent on the
number of burners in use which is represented as an equation written in the conductance calculation of a pipe.
This has to be done for both the pilot and main burners.
Conductance calculation example
Figure shows the three states of the Combustor model. In the first case, the pilot command is in OFF mode. In
the second figure, the pilot command is ON, but no main burner is ON (flow through combustor is very small)
and finally in the last case, main fuel gas flow is ON.
Combustor states
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Furnace Modeling
Note: A Combustor model with zero flow through it whilst the AVEVA Dynamic Simulation model is running can
crash the model, therefore a minimum flow of air (1 kg/hr) is recommended even in shutdown conditions. Set a
small value for KJLEAK on all the valves in the air line.
Setting KJLEAK on valve
Another important aspect of Furnace modeling which is different from other flow sheet modeling is the DPLIN
parameter. DPLIN is a parameter below the threshold defined value of 10KPa that would make pressure drop
and flow relationship linear. Default value of DPLIN is 0.1bar=10kpa. As the pressure drop in the flue gas side, in
the order of just tens of pascals, DPLIN has to be less than the smallest pressure drop possible on the flue gas
side to retain the pressure nonlienear drop/flow relationship. The value can be as low as 1Pa (one pascal).
To change the DPLIN parameter, right-click on the stream and go to edit and on the row layout change edit to
AdvEdit and change the DPLIN value, see
This DPLIN parameter is only available on the stream next to a pressure node,that is, on the flue gas line, and it
has to be changed after every pressure node.
DPLIN parameter change
Another important aspect is that the flue gas side flows are large along with the sizes of the flow devices,
therefore the value of conductance of a pipe is large, say 150. The conductance of flow devices are tuned based
on the box pressure drop required.
See the screen shot from a flow sheet containing a combustor and the flow devices on the flue gas line. The
conductance and pressure drop are displayed at steady state to have a feel for the numbers.
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Furnace Modeling
Tuning the conductance of gas streams
Combustor and Furnace flow sheet
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Example 1
In this example, three nodes are defined, namely, Radiation, Convection, and Superheat sections for steam
generation. Except for steam process fluid, the other main process fluid enters the convection section, and flows
to the radiation section, and comes out through the radiation section. There are four passes in convection
section and all these four passes enter the radiation section. In AVEVA Dynamic Simulation model, each gas
node is represented by a number. Usually, number ‘1’ is assigned to the gas node nearest to the burners, but in
this example, it is the radiation zone.
Furnace Flow sheet
The numbering is illustrated in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation model (Table:Conventions for the gas nodes/zones).
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Example 1
Conventions for the gas nodes/zones
Gas Node Number
Radiation 1
Convection ( process fluid) 2
Convection (steam) 3

All the four passes that enter the convective section of a furnace are represented by four streams into the
furnace. These four streams come out of the convective section and re-enter the radiation section. So, we use a
fourth streams which come out of the furnace and connect back to the furnace to indicate that they enter the
radiation section.
These intermediate streams are usually hidden and the final streams coming out of the furnace are shown in the
previous section. Each pass entering and leaving a furnace are mapped to indicate the respective passes
Entering and Leaving of each section. This has been shown properly in the following table:
Name Assignment UOM
FEEDTUBELOC 9 size
FEEDTUBELOC[CC_03S07] 7
MAPOFEEDSTREAM 1 size
MAPOFEEDSTREAM[CC_03S29] 0
MAPOPRODSTREAM 1 size
MAPOPRODSTREAM[CC_03S37] 0
OFEEDSTREAM 1 size
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Example 1
OFEEDSTREAM[0] CC_03S29
OGASHEATSTREAM 0 size
OPRODSTREAM 1 size
OPRODSTREAM[0] CC_03S37
OTUBEFEEDSTREAM 9 size
OTUBEFEEDSTREAM[0] CC_03S07
OTUBEPRODSTREAM 9 size
OTUBEPRODSTREAM[0] CC_03S12
PRODTUBELOC[CC_03S12] 7
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Example 1
Note: Mapping the tube passes entering and leaving the furnace.
The numbers indicate the tube pass number and array of feed and product streams (as assigned by a stream
name). All these are in the Feeds and Products tab of the DEW.
DEW for the feed and product tube passes
Basic Tab
The refractory volume is calculated from the dimensions available in the datasheet and mass has been assumed
and tuned corresponding to heat transfer from refractory to the surroundings and during start up and shut
down.
Convective area, tube volume and tube metal mass are calculated from the data available in the datasheet.
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Example 1
The flow conductance is tuned based on the pressure drop required across the furnace tubes and for optimum
flow controller openings during steady state.
Basic Tab
Tuning
Generally, for tuning the furnace, the outlet temperature across each Gas node must be known i.e., outlet of
Radiation section and outlet of Convection section after the Process fluid tubes and ultimately outlet of the
furnace after the steam tubes.
Gas node temperatures
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Example 1
To obtain the gas node temperatures for each section follow these steps:
Radiation Heat Transfer

Refractory Area: Generally, refractory area is not available for each tube pass in a data sheet and the overall gas
coefficient to refractory (KGR) is tuned. In the absence of the data sheet detailing the refractory area, both KGR
and refractory area can be tuned, in the Radiant Heat Transfer section.
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Example 1
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Example 1
Radiant Heat transfer tab

For the tube passes,the cold plane area, overall coefficient from gas to tube (KGT), and overall coefficient from
refractory to tube (KRT) can be tuned.
Usually, the radiation is higher in the radiant section and so the KGT value is higher than in the Convective
section. Normally, it is assumed that the KGT will be zero for Convective section.
Similarly, tune the KRT from the refractory to the tube and assign a value of zero to KGT in the Convection
section because radiation and emissivity are very less in Convection section.

While tuning the Furnace for the convective section on the gas node side, specify the amount of flue gas flowing
through that section at steady state or the value while tuning the section. On the gas node side, tune the forced
convection heat transfer coefficient (Gasnode.UF) for each tube pass. Actually, this value is forced convection
heat transfer from the gas to the refractory and to the tube. You can even specify some natural convection heat
transfer coefficient (Gasnode.UN) and tune for some proper natural heat transfer duty. Usually, default values
are fine and if needed these too can be tuned. The ambient heat losses on the convection node (Gasnode.UL)
from the refractory, can be tuned too. Usually, default values are fine here.
For the tube passes, tune the forced heat transfer coefficient from the tube metal to the process fluid
(Tubepass.UF). This has to be accompanied by a reference tube flow through that pass. Also, the Natural
Convection Heat Transfer coefficient can be tuned, which is the natural heat transfer from the tube metal to the
process fluid (Tubepass.UN). Radiation section is accompanied by convection section, so that the first four
passes of the convection section, are tuned along with the next four passes (5 to 8) wherein predominantly only
convection is present. Tube 9 is only for superheating the steam in the convection and its Tubepass9.UF is higher
than the process fluid.
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Example 1
Convective Heat Transfer tab
Thermo Tab
A Component slate FUELGAS and Thermo method of SRK01 is used here. The main components required in the
FULEGAS slate will be discussed later.
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Example 1
Similarly, on the tube pass side, a slate with name Reactor has been configured with a thermo method SRK01.
Thermo tab
The rest of the tabs in this model are of minor importance and defaults are used.
Fuel Gas and Air Network

In this example, the furnace is a natural draft furnace with no Forced or Induced draft fans. Here the box
pressure or the draft pressure is controlled by means of a simple damper and draft available. Both the pilot and
fuel gas lines and Air are combined (mixed) in a header before entering the furnace. The furnace coil outlet
temperature is controlled by the flow of fuel gas and the excess oxygen percentage in the flue gas section is
controlled by the flow of Air. This is a simple configuration and all the complex controls are configured in the
DCS which will work when the AVEVA Dynamic Simulation model is connected to the DCS. Here a valve is used
(as a damper) to control the draft pressure inside a furnace.
Use a combustor for the fuel/Air combustion process to produce the flue gas required for the fired heater and
make sure the pilot command is set to 1 to start firing. The pilot command must be linked to the number of fuel
gas burner and pilot gas burners running so that the pilot command initiates the pilot gas /main gas burners to
ON. The pilot command is a dynamic point so it has to be changed in the monitor window. The number of
burners in line is configured using an equation in a pipe as explained in the previous example. There are total
of 24 burners each for the fuel and pilot gas and represented by a slider as shown in the figure below and the
combustor pilot command is set to 1 by an equation. Also, as there are 24 burners for fuel gas and pilot gas, the
pipe conductance is multiplied with the number of burners in line to the total number of burners.
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Example 1
Fired heater with O2 and fuel control
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Example 1
Flowsheet showing burners online calculation
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Example 2
This is an example of a furnace with two radiation sections and a common convection section. The modeling and
tuning philosophy is the same as explained in example 1. This is a balanced draft model with a Forced and
Induced draft fan with an air pre-heater. This is a crude pre-heat furnace with feed entering the convection
section and getting distributed in both the radiation sections. The convection section is named in AVEVA
Dynamic Simulation as F101 and both the radiation sections are named as F101A & F101B. The process fluid
enters the furnace (8 passes) convection section and Boiler Feed Water (BFW) enters the convection section and
gets converted to steam and leaves the section. All the eight passes leave the convection and distribute into four
passes each to each radiation section. There are 68 burners i.e. 34 main burners and 34 pilot burners to each
radiation zone. In AVEVA Dynamic Simulation application, you have to model three furnaces representing each
section of a furnace namely radiation zone 1 and 2 and the convection section. So each furnace will have one gas
node and each section of the radiation zone will have four passes and convection has nine passes (8+1 passes).
Crude preheat furnace
Version 2022
Example 2
Convection Section F101

For F101, two gas nodes have been configured as one for steam and the other for the process. Also, check for
the Feed and Product streams for the convective section. Tube pass 1 is for steam.
Version 2022
Example 2
Configuring the fired heater F101
Version 2022
Example 2
F101 Feeds and Products tab
Basic Tab
Fire box volume and refractory mass are assumed for both the nodes in the convective section. Here node 1 is
for the process fluid and node 2 is for the BFW. Tube volume and area and metal mass are calculated from the
data sheet. The flow conductance across is tuned for the required flow and pressure drop across the furnace on
the tube pass side.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101 Basic tab
Radiant Heat Transfer

In Radiation heat transfer, the major heat transfer mode is by convection. Hence, Gasnode.KGR, tube pass.KRT
are considered to be zero. A minor fraction of heat transfer by radiation is considered and a small value from gas
to tube is tuned (Tubepass.KGT)
Version 2022
Example 2
Version 2022
Example 2
F101 Radiant heat Transfer tab

As the node here is the convective section itself, heat transfer is mainly by convection. See the figure below.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101 Convective Heat Transfer

Forced convection flue gas flow rate during the time of tuning is to be entered and changed to a SS value and
tuned accordingly.
Here Gasnode.UF and Gasnode.UL are tuned. Gas node.UL is tuned during the shutdown of the furnace and the
losses are minimized.
For tube pass, the steady state flow rate through each pass is considered and tube pass.UF is tuned. The figure
below shows minimum radiation duties, the gas node temperatures, and heat duties across each node.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101 Heat duties and gas node temperatures
Radiation Section F101A

Out of eight passes coming out of the convective section, four passes enter the radiation section F-101A.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101A Radiant section configuration
F101 A Feeds and Products Tab

Check the mapping of the streams from the convective section entering the radiation section F101A.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101A Basic Tab

Fire box volume and refractory mass are assumed for this section. Tube volume and area and metal mass are
calculated from the data sheet. The flow conductance across is tuned for the required flow and pressure drop
across the furnace on the tube pass side.
F101A Radiant Heat Transfer Tab

Here all the values are tuned to get in the required heat transfer duty across the section. Gasnode.KGR,
Tubepass.KGT, Tubepass.KRT are tuned to achieve the required radiation duty across the furnace.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101A Convective Heat Transfer Tab

Though the heat transfer is by radiation, some amount of heat transfer happens even by convection and the
Gasnode.UF, Tubepass.UF are tuned and the correct flow rates on the flue gas side and on the tube pass side are
entered.
Following are the values needed after tuning. To get these values, tune all the heat transfer coefficients to get
the highlighted values. All the duties are for reference. For radiant heat transfer, the convection duties are
tuned for nearly 3-4% of the total duty required.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101A Duties and tube node temperatures
Radiation Section F101B

Out of eight passes coming out of the convective section, four passes enter the radiation section F-101B.
F101B Configuration
Check the mapping of the streams from the convective section entering the radiation section F101B.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101B Feeds and Products Tab
F101 B Basic Tab

Fire box volume and refractory mass are assumed for this section. Tube volume and area and metal mass are
calculated from the data sheet. The flow conductance across is tuned for the required flow and pressure drop
across the furnace on the tube pass side.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101B Radiant Heat Transfer Tab

Here all the values are tuned to get the required heat transfer duty across the section. Gasnode.KGR,
Tubepass.KGT, Tubepass.KRT are tuned to get the required radiation duty across the furnace.
Version 2022
Example 2
F101B Convective Heat Transfer Tab

Though the heat transfer is by radiation, some amount of heat transfer happens even by convection and the
Gasnode.UF, Tubepass.UF are tuned. Also, the correct flow rates on the flue gas side and on the tube pass side
are entered.
Troubleshooting Issues while Modeling a Furnace

 If the model becomes unstable while tuning the furnace or during a startup and shut down, then the
problem may be due to
o high heat transfer coefficients on the radiation section and convective section
o furnace fire box volume very low
o If the model is too unstable, then change the fire box volume and retune the furnace.
 If the flow conductance of the model objects on the fuel/flue gas side is too high, then change the DPLIN
across the section. The DPLIN has to be changed across the entire network in the stream after a pressure
node in the network.
 If the model crashes because of flash failures across the combustor, then KJLeak of the flow devices has to
be considered so that certain flow always happens through the combustor. Usually, we configure KJLeak for
all the flow devices in the Air flow network.
Version 2022

DYNSIM Best Practices 3 - Furnace

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DYNSIM Best Practices 3 - Furnace

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AVEVA™ Dynamic Simulation

Furnace Modeling Guidelines

Fundamental Calculations of a Fired Heater .......................................................... 6

Configuration of Gas Nodes in AVEVA Dynamic Simulation ................................. 10

Furnace Modeling ............................................................................................... 12

Radiant Heat Transfer

Heat Transfer from Gas to Tubes

Heat Transfer from Refractory to Tubes

Heat Transfer from Refractory to the Surroundings

Lumped Radiant Coefficients

Typical configuration of Gas node – Radiation with eight tubes passes

Fired heater configuration form.

Right-click on the furnace and select Data Entry option.

Fired Heater Data Entry Window

Basic tab contains the following items to be calculated and filled:

Tube Passes Details

Radiant Heat Transfer Tab

Convective Heat Transfer tab

Convective Heat Transfer Tab

Feeds and Products Tab

Feeds and Products tab

Conductance calculation example

Setting KJLEAK on valve

DPLIN parameter change

Tuning the conductance of gas streams

Combustor and Furnace flow sheet

Furnace Flow sheet

Conventions for the gas nodes/zones

Gas Node Number

Feeds and Products Tab

Name Assignment UOM

DEW for the feed and product tube passes

Gas node temperatures

Radiation Heat Transfer

Radiant Heat transfer tab

Convective Heat Transfer Tab

Convective Heat Transfer tab

Fuel Gas and Air Network

Fired heater with O2 and fuel control

Flowsheet showing burners online calculation

Crude preheat furnace

Convection Section F101

Configuring the fired heater F101

F101 Feeds and Products tab

F101 Basic tab

Radiant Heat Transfer

F101 Radiant heat Transfer tab

Convective Heat Transfer Tab

F101 Convective Heat Transfer

F101 Heat duties and gas node temperatures

Radiation Section F101A

F101A Radiant section configuration

F101 A Feeds and Products Tab

F101A Basic Tab

F101A Radiant Heat Transfer Tab

F101A Convective Heat Transfer Tab

F101A Duties and tube node temperatures

Radiation Section F101B

F101B Feeds and Products Tab

F101 B Basic Tab

F101B Radiant Heat Transfer Tab

F101B Convective Heat Transfer Tab

Troubleshooting Issues while Modeling a Furnace

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