Modelling of joint effects on refractory lining behaviour

Abstract

Abstract

Expansion joints play an important role in refractory linings as they reduce stresses during heating. It is therefore necessary to take them into account in a mechanical analysis. In the case where the lining is a masonry construction (made up of bricks), it would require an excessive number of elements to model each brick and joint. The proposed solution is to replace the masonry with a material that has the same behaviour (or very near) as masonry. Since it is difficult to perform experimental tests on a set of bricks (to identify the parameters of the equivalent material), these loads were simulated on an elementary cell using a model developed at a local scale (scale of the components, bricks and joints). At this scale, the joints are represented as contacts (with normal and tangential behaviour). The parameters of a simplified equivalent material were obtained by an inverse identification. This model was validated by a thermomechanical test on a real structure.