Development of bubble driven flow CFD model applied for aluminium smelting cells

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for the study of bubble driven bath flow in aluminium reduction cells. For validation purposes, the model development was conducted using a full scale air-water model of part of an aluminium reduction cell as a test-bed. The bubble induced turbulence has been modelled by either modifying bubble induced turbulence viscosity directly or by modifying bubble induced turbulence kinetic energy in a standard k-ε turbulence model. The relative performance of the two modelling approaches has been examined through comparison with experimental data taken under similar conditions using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Detailed comparison has been conducted by point-wise comparison of liquid velocities to quantify the level of agreement between CFD simulation and PIV measurement. Both models can capture the key flow patterns determined by PIV measurement, while the modified turbulence kinetic energy model gives better agreement with flow patterns in the gap between anode and cathode.