Leboucher, Laurent, Pericleous, Koulis ORCID: 0000-0002-7426-9999, Panaitescu, Ileana and Repetto, Maurizio (1999) A finite-volume shallow layer method for the MHD instabilities in an aluminium production cell. In: The 2nd International Conference on CFD in the Minerals and Process Industries. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Melbourne, Australia, pp. 335-338. ISBN 978 0 643 06560

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Abstract

An electrolytic cell for Aluminium production contains molten metal and molten electrolyte, which are subject to high dc-currents and magnetic fields. Lorentz forces arising from the cross product of current and magnetic field may amplify natural gravity waves at the interface between the two fluids, leading to short circuits in extreme cases. The external magnetic field and current distribution in the production cell is computed through a detailed finite element analysis at Torino Polytechnic. The results are then used to compute the magnetohydrodynamic and thermal effects in the aluminium/electrolyte bath. Each cell has lateral dimensions of 6m x 2m, whilst the bath depth is only 30cm. the electrically resistive electrolyte path, which is critical in the operation of the cell, has layer depth of only a few centimetres below each carbon anode. Because the shallow dimensions of the liquid layer a finite-volume shallow-layer technique has been used at Greenwich to compute the resulting flow-field and interface perturbations. The information obtained from this method, i.e. depth averaged velocities and aluminium/electrolyte interface position is then embedded in the three-dimensional finite volume code PHYSICA and will be used to compute the heat transfer and phase change in the cell.

Item Type:	Conference Proceedings
Title of Proceedings:	The 2nd International Conference on CFD in the Minerals and Process Industries
Additional Information:	Conference on CFD in the Minerals and Process Industries, 6-8 December 1999, Melbourne, Australia
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
Last Modified:	02 Mar 2019 15:49
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/353

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