The disorderly treatment of blast furnace slag has caused huge energy waste. To tackle this issue, moving bed are continuously attracting worldwide attention. In this paper, the in-depth analysis of the flow characteristics of blast furnace slag-like particles in a solid-solid heat transfer moving bed is carried out. The particle flow pattern and velocity in the moving bed with different tube numbers, configurations and spacings are vividly recorded. Significantly, a quantitative formula of the mass flow rate including the opening width, the bed layer height, the tube number and spacing, the particle size and distribution was built for this solid-solid heat transfer model. Furthermore, it is found that the longitudinal velocity distribution of the particles renders obvious peaks and valleys along the width direction. This study provides theoretical guidance for the optimization of the structure and operational parameters of the solid-solid heat-exchange moving bed. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.