Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Cathode Materials on the Displacement in a 350 KA Aluminum Reduction Cell

Abstract

A three dimensional mathematical model was developed to calculate the displacement of a 350 kA cell with graphitized cathode during preheat and early operation, and the calculated results have been compared and discussed with the measurements. The displacement has been studied for three typical kinds of aluminum reduction cells (semi-graphitic, graphitic and graphitized) after 30 days start-up. First, the sodium concentration distribution after 30 days start-up in cathode carbon blocks was calculated by one FE model of a cathode block. And numerical simulation was utilized to study the displacement fields of the above three typical kinds of the cell, which took the stress caused by chemistry and temperature gradient into account. The results indicate that the value of the cell displacement decreases with time during 30 days start-up and reaches a constant value.