Thermoconvective flow of molten glass heated by direct induction in a cold crucible

A simplified mathematical model of glass melt convection in a cold crucible induction melter

“…(10), g ¼ Àvs s /vT, where s s is the surface tension. For molten glass,g ¼ 10 À4 Nm À1 K À1 can be used [14]. This boundary condition describes surface-tension-driven (Marangoni)…”

“…An isothermal boundary condition with T ¼ 800 K is used to represent the water-cooled walls and floor. This condition assumes that the thermal gradient on account of the wall cooling is essentially confined to a thin layer of solidified glass [24].…”

“…Roach et al used ANSYS-based finite element model to predict operational behavior for specific materials (borosilicate and other glass melts) and system configurations [10]. Sauvage et al numerically investigated the thermoconvective flow of molten glass heated by direct induction in a cold crucible [14]. Their results showed a steady, axisymmetrical flow for a power of 45 kW in the glass bath with a height of 0.185 m and radius of 0.25 m. However, loss of axisymmetry was observed for a power of 55 kW owing to thermoconvective instabilities.…”

Coupling electromagnectic and thermo-hydrodynamic simulations to optimize a vitrification furnace heated by direct induction

“…The thermo-hydrodynamic phenomena are computed by the software Fluent ® which solves the Navier-Stokes (3) and thermal (4) equations [3]. Due to the high viscosity of the glass, the flow is assumed to be laminar.…”

3D simulation of a 500 kg UO2 melt in a cold crucible induction furnace

“…The cold crucible technology has been selected in this project because it has already proven his ability to melt corium thanks to Korean [1,2] and Russian [3,4] works but only for lower mass. Simulation of such induction furnace is quite well known in the CEA Marcoule for vitrifiction purposes [5,6]. But the simulation has to be upgraded to take into account LES turbulence modelling and Lorentz forces which were both neglected for glass simulations due to its very high viscosity and low electrical conductivity.…”