Not only is it the enormity of the site that can be hard to get your head round, the enormous complexity of what is passing before your eyes can be confusing also.
Beyond the basics of iron making, I’ve very little clue as to what else goes on so have no idea what these miles of pipework are for. However, I did find them fascinating nonetheless. I imagine some may be for water – steel making uses vast amounts of water (10 tons of water for every ton of steel), but more likely they are for gases.
Mechanical Landscapes 