Comparison of various methods for modeling the metal-bath interface

Abstract

The correct evaluation of the stationary metal-bath interface in aluminum reduction cells is still a source of discussion and controversy. The objective of this paper is to present some calculations of the interface performed by different methods, used in software packages and to compare them with measured metalbath interface profile in a real cell. Our comparison includes Shallow Layer approach and 3D multiphase methods, such as: homogeneous and inhomogeneous volume of fluid (VOF) as well as floating grid method. Different boundary conditions on the top of bath channels are tested in VOF methods. Finally, a simple generic magnetic field and vertical current density are proposed for software benchmarking of this problem.