Lecture25

Designofstack
Contents:
Whatisstackeffect
Whatisdraft?
Naturaldraft

Keywords:stack,chimney,draft,naturaldraft
Whatisstackeffect
Thephenomenoninducedbythedensitydifferencebetweenahotandcoldaircolumnthatcreatesa
naturalflowthroughachimneyiscalledstackeffectorchimneyeffect.
Thefunctionofthestackistodispersethehotgases,emissionsandparticlesthatleavethefurnace.The
gastemperatureinsidethestackisgreaterthantheoutsideambientairtemperature.Ifthesetwoair
columnsareconnectedatthebottom,denseairwillpushthelightgasesupthechimney.Higheristhe
temperaturedifference,greaterwillbethebuoyancyforcecausingthelightergasestomoveup.
Flowofgasesinfurnaces,stacksandotherequipmentsoperatingatatmosphericpressuresinvolvesmall
differenceinpressuresP1 P thatshouldbeusedinmechanicalenergybalanceequation(lecture21,
equation7).Thissmallpressuredifferencecanbeconvenientlyhandledintermsofdraft.
Whatisdraft
Draft d atanypointinthegasflowsystemis
d
Absolute pressure in the systems absolute pressure of the surrounding atmosphere at the same level
FigureshowsthechimneyorstackinwhichhotgasesareflowingattemperatureT.Wemounttwo
watermanometersatpositionsZ
Z and Z
Z .Onelegofthemanometerisfixedwiththe
chimneywhereastheotherlegisopentotheatmosphereasshowninthefigure


Figure1:Acolumnofthechimneywiththemanometerpositionedat

and

Atpoint1and2inthegascolumn
d1

P andd2

P (1)

Whered andd representdraftatpoint1and2inthegascolumn.P and.P aretheatmospheric

pressuresandP andP absolutepressuresatpoints1and2respectively.
Variationsofpressurewithheightinagascolumnareimportant.Inastaticcolumnoffluidatconstant
temperaturethepressuredecreaseswithheightduetogravity:
dP

dZ(2)

NeglectingtheeffectofdensitywithZ,itfollowsforstaticsystems
P

(3)

Pispressureatheight ZandP ispressureatarbitrarydatumplaneofzeroheight.isthegasdensity.

Naturaldraft
Itisthedraftproducedbydensitydifferencebetweenthetwofluids.Considerthehotgascolumn
showninthefigure.Thehotgascolumnissurroundedbyatmosphericcoldair.Amonometermounted
atpoint1and2readsthedraftd1 andd2 .Therelationbetweendraftanddensitydifferencecanbe
obtainedasfollows:

P
P

Z (4)
Z (5)

Byequation1and4andweget.(6)
d

isdensityofairand isdensityofhotgas.Eq6isthedraftproducedinastaticcolumnofgas.Ifthe
chimneyisopentoatmospherethend2 0sothatdraftorsuctionatthebottomsis
d

(7)

Duetoflowofgases,thedraftisreducedbyfrictionallosses,sothatthestaticdraftisthemaximum
draftwhichthestackofagivenheightcanproduceunderlimitingcondition.
Byusingmechanicalenergybalanceequation(equation7oflecture21)andusingequation7
(expressP P inequation7intermsofd andd )wegetthemechanicalenergybalanceequation
expressedintermsanddraft:
g Z

0.(8)

Reference
R.Schuhmann:MetallurgicalEngineering,Volume1EngineeringPrinciples