INFLUENCE OF THERMO-HYDRAULIC FIELDS ON STRUCTURAL MECHANICS OF REDUCTION CELLS

摘要

The elasto-thermal deformations in pot shell of aluminum reduction cell is obtained by solving a stationary elasticity problem with thermal expansion effect as an applied force. The temperature distribution in the whole smelting cell is obtained by two approaches. The first one is based on an electro-thermal model without fluid motions, an artificial thermal conductivity is thus used in the heat equation in order to simulate the convection effects. The second approach is based on a coupled model involving thermal, electromagnetic and hydrodynamic fields. An elasto-thermal calculation corresponding to these two approaches is carried out. The results show the influence of thermal convection due to the second approach on the heating of the pot shell. They also exhibit a correlation between velocity fields and mechanical deformation of steel shell. Strain fields in the sidewall are presented.