Numerical Simulation of Multiphase Magne

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based multiphase magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow model for simulating the melt flow and bath-metal interface deformation in realistic aluminium reduction cells is presented. The model accounts for the complex physics of the magnetohydrodynamic problem in aluminium reduction cells by coupling two immiscible fluids, electromagnetic field, Lorenz force, flow turbulence, and complex cell geometry with large length-scale. Especially, the deformation of bath-metal interface is tracked directly in the simulation, and the condition of constant anode cathode distance (ACD) is maintained by moving anode bottom dynamically with the deforming bath-metal interface. The metal pad deformation and melt flow predicted by the current model are compared to the predictions using a simplified model where the bath-metal interface is assumed flat. The effects of the induced electric current due to fluid flow and the magnetic field due to the interior cell current on the metal pad deformation and melt flow are investigated. The presented model extends the conventional simplified box model by including detailed cell geometry such as the ledge profile and all channels (side, central and cross-channels). The simulations show the model sensitivity to different side ledge profiles and the cross-channel width by comparing the predicted melt flow and metal pad heaving.