An advanced numerical model is presented for the prediction of the primary thermal phenomena in industrial glass furnaces, coupling the combustion space, the batch, and the glass tank. A newly developed batch islands model treats the batch as a continuous blanket that floats on the molten glass surface and allows for the formation of islands as it melts. The coupled model simulates the entire furnace in an integrated fashion. The heat fluxes and temperatures at the interfaces between the combustion space, the batch, and the glass tank are calculated in an iterative procedure, greatly improving the accuracy of the simulation. A 455 metric ton/day air fuel float glass furnace was simulated, and the numerical results compared well with measurements obtained from an operating industrial furnace. The coupled model is a powerful research and design tool for the optimization of industrial glass melting furnaces. New combustion technologies, including variations in furnace and burner design, oxygen-fuel firing, enhanced radiation, and so on, can be investigated economically with this coupled model.
