Classification of instability modes in a model of aluminium reduction cells with a uniform magnetic field

Molokov, S.; El, Gennady; Lukyanov, A.

doi:10.1007/s00162-010-0201-y

Cited by 13 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Indeed, a reflection of the sloshing fluid at the cylinder wall will lead to a deformation of the upper metal-electrolyte interface 49 . This coupling at the walls is assumed to be essential for the instability 38 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…i.e. for stable operation, the dimensionless number β must not exceed a certain critical value 38 in the order of β cr = 1 . .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some recent papers it was further pointed out that not only a magnetic field and the wave coupling, but also the reflection at the walls is an important ingredient for amplifying the instability 38,49 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In summary, the interaction of a horizontal current with a magnetic background field B 0,z , the coupling of two waves and the wave-reflection at the walls are considered as the crucial elements of the sloshing instability in aluminium cells 38,48 . There already exist several shallow water 54,55 and full 3D models 36,56 for an efficient simulation of aluminium reduction cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sloshing instability and electrolyte layer rupture in liquid metal batteries

et al. 2017

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Liquid metal batteries (LMBs) are discussed today as a cheap grid scale energy storage, as required for the deployment of fluctuating renewable energies. Built as a stable density stratification of two liquid metals separated by a thin molten salt layer, LMBs are susceptible to short-circuit by fluid flows. Using direct numerical simulation, we study a sloshing long wave interface instability in cylindrical cells, which is already known from aluminium reduction cells. After characterising the instability mechanism, we investigate the influence of cell current, layer thickness, density, viscosity, conductivity and magnetic background field. Finally we study the shape of the interface and give a dimensionless parameter for the onset of sloshing as well as for the short-circuit.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…i.e. for stable operation, the dimensionless number β must not exceed a certain critical value 38 in the order of β cr = 1 . .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sloshing instability and electrolyte layer rupture in liquid metal batteries

et al. 2017

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“…Long wave interface instabilities, also known as metal pad rolling or sloshing, may lead to a short-circuit even in small cells [27]. These instabilities are already known from aluminium smelters, where they limit the maximum electrolysis current [28,29,30,31]. Here, we use an integro-differential MHD model [32] as already used to simulate the Tayler instability and electro-vortex flow, enhanced by multiphase support, to simulate metal pad rolling in a three layer model of a liquid metal battery.…”

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confidence: 99%

Metal pad roll instability in liquid metal batteries

Weber¹,

Beckstein²,

Galindo³

et al. 2017

MHD

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The increasing deployment of renewable energies requires three fundamental changes to the electric grid: more transmission lines, a flexibilisation of the demand and grid scale energy storage. Liquid metal batteries (LMBs) are considered these days as a promising means of stationary energy storage. Built as a stable density stratification of two liquid metals separated by a liquid salt, LMBs have three main advantages: a low price, a long life-time and extremely high current densities. In order to be cheap, LMBs have to be built large. However, battery currents in the order of kilo-amperes may lead to magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, which -in the worst case -may short-circuit the thin electrolyte layer. The metal pad roll instability, as known from aluminium reduction cells, is considered as one of the most dangerous phenomena for LMBs. We develop a numerical model, combining fluid-and electrodynamics with the volume-of-fluid method, to simulate this instability in cylindrical LMBs. We explain the instability mechanism similar to that in aluminium reduction cells and give some first results, including growth rates and oscillation periods of the instability 1 . MotivationAccording to prognoses of the International Energy Agency, the worldwide energy demand will grow from the year 2011 to 2035 by two thirds. In the same period, the share of renewable energies is predicted to rise from 20 to 31 % [2]. These renewable energies are highly fluctuating; in order to stabilise voltage and frequency in the electric grid, new transmission lines must be built 1 This article is an extended version of a conference paper of the proceedings of the 10th PAMIR conference [1]. electrolyte alloy metal (a) short circuit ! (b) Figure 1: Scheme of a liquid metal battery with typical inventory (a), and short circuit due to a strong fluid flow in the upper metal compartment (b). arXiv:1612.03656v1 [physics.flu-dyn]

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Measurement of interfacial wave dynamics in orbitally shaken cylindrical containers using ultrasound pulse-echo techniques

2019

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We present a novel experiment on interfacial wave dynamics in orbitally shaken cylindrical vessels containing two-and three fluid layers. The experiment was designed as a hydrodynamical model for both aluminum reduction cells and liquid metal batteries to gain new insights into the rotational wave motion driven by the metal pad roll instability. Different options are presented to realize stable and measurable multi-layer stratifications. We introduce a new acoustic measurement procedure allowing to reconstruct wave amplitudes also in opaque liquids by tracking ultrasonic pulse echoes reflected on the interfaces. Measurements of resonance curves and phase shifts were conducted for varying interface positions. A strong influence of the top and bottom walls were observed, considerably reducing wave amplitudes and eigenfrequencies, when the interface is getting close. Finally, measured resonance curves were successfully compared with an existing forced wave theory that we extended to two-layer interfacial waves. The comparison stresses the importance to carefully control the boundary condition at the contact line.

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Classification of instability modes in a model of aluminium reduction cells with a uniform magnetic field

Cited by 13 publications

References 11 publications

Sloshing instability and electrolyte layer rupture in liquid metal batteries

Sloshing instability and electrolyte layer rupture in liquid metal batteries

Metal pad roll instability in liquid metal batteries

Measurement of interfacial wave dynamics in orbitally shaken cylindrical containers using ultrasound pulse-echo techniques

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