Coke oven corbel structures and methods of forming the same

A corbel structure for a coke oven comprising:

• an assembly of multiple stacked tiers of refractory blocks defining a plurality of substantially vertically oriented central flues and a plurality of diagonally oriented flues positioned laterally of the central flues, wherein
• at least one tier of refractory blocks in the assembly includes a plurality of tongue-and-groove interconnected refractory blocks, and wherein
• the plurality of interconnected refractory blocks of the at least one tier comprise mutually substantially orthogonal faces defining an edge and respectively including an elongate tongue protruding outwardly therefrom and an elongate groove recessed therein, and wherein
• the elongate tongue and groove include respective adjacent ends which co-terminate with one another at the edge defined by the mutually orthogonal faces of the refractory blocks, wherein
• the at least one tier includes a plurality of transverse spanner flue blocks, wherein each transverse spanner flue block defines a respective vertical flue section of a vertically oriented central flue and a diagonal flue section of a respective diagonally oriented flue located laterally of the respective vertical flue section, and wherein the transverse spanner flue blocks of the at least one tier are comprised of:
• (i) a base section;
• and
• (ii) a central platform section upwardly extending from the base section so as to define (a) opposed L-shaped lateral step regions, the central platform section defining the respective vertically oriented flue, and (b) upper and lower portions of each respective diagonally oriented flue, wherein
• (iii) the central platform section includes opposed laterally directed U-shaped ends defining the upper portion of each respective diagonally oriented flue;
• and wherein
• the at least one tier further comprises lateral spacer blocks positioned laterally of the at least one tier, wherein at least some of the lateral spacer blocks are positioned on the L-shaped lateral step regions in abutment with the U-shaped ends of the central platform.