A blast furnace involves various capital and energy intensive processes.Due to complex phenomena and the difficulties in taking measurements,the knowledge needed for optimization of blast furnace operation can be most readily obtained through the development of high fidelity computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations.However,with increasingly complex CFD capable of simulating and analyzing ever-larger amounts of data,interpolating and presenting the numerical data in a meaningful fashion is a key for effective communication between CFD experts and plant engineers.Recently,virtual reality(VR)visualization technology made it possible for people to analyze huge amounts of CFD data in a virtual environment.This paper will present the methodology and results of integrating CFD simulation and VR visualization of blast furnaces.Such integration allows the creation of virtual blast furnaces which can be used for optimization,troubleshooting,design and training to improve the process performance and productivity.