Mathematical modeling of industrial aluminum electrolysis

Abstract

The problem of aluminum electrolysis is discussed. The mathematical model of an industrial electrolyzer presented in the paper is written under the assumption that the electrolyte and metal media are immiscible. At the basis of the mathematical statement is a three-dimensional, nonstationary, and nonlinear system of magnetic hydrodynamics equations which is written separately in the aluminum medium and in the electrolyte medium with a geometric account for wall accretion, skull, and arrangement of anodes. The proposed system allows one to model various forms of anodes, the number of anodes in a bath, and their sizes. Interfaces of media are connected by a viscous friction. Initial values of speeds and electromagnetic fields in the media and the medium interface are considered as set. On the skull, bottom, and anodes the attachment conditions are set. The speed of change of a magnetic field in the metal and electrolyte on the interface is considered zero. On the basis of a numerical method of solution of the system of equations, there is a well-proved method of division over physical processes. The analysis of results of the numerical experiment has shown that it is actually possible to allocate a “middle” layer for modeling of the electrolysis process. The proposed model allows one to investigate media behavior upon the occurrence of a long anode effect due to sharp reduction of the electric conductivity of the electrolyte and subsequent sharp growth of the electric-field strength.