Biphasic Numerical Simulation of a Rotating Disc Electrochemical Cell

Abstract

On electrochemical studies involving forced convection, the cell with rotating disc is the most widely used. Traditionally, Levich equation is used to interpret the information obtained from physical experiments. However, electrochemical results can be accurately interpreted through this equation only if the velocity field near the electrode active face is in accordance with the ideal behavior described by Cochran. In this work, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique was employed to determine the effect of the distance between the electrode active surface and the cell bottom on the cell inner hydrodynamic behavior. Biphasic 3D numerical simulations were performed using the commercial software Fluent. Numerical results were validated with experimental data. A simple rule for the optimal distance between the electrode active surface and the cell bottom is presented in this work.