Using ANSYS and CFX to Model Aluminum Reduction Cell since 1984 and Beyond
thermo-electric, thermo-mechanic, thermo-electro-mechanic, magneto-hydro-dynamic, etc.
still remain to be addressed.
capabilities are getting sparser. Obvious, easy-to-implement applications have already been developed and
are now routinely being used.
underused design tool even nowadays. One example the author is intimately familiar with is the application
of ANSYS-based models to support the development and retrofit of aluminum reduction cell.
application involving, to be rigorous, a fusion of thermo-electro-mechanic and magneto-hydro-dynamic
modeling capabilities in a complex 3D geometry. Even after around 30 years of steady development, the
ultimate fully coupled multi-physics finite element model of an aluminum reduction cell remains a dream
tool and will remain so for many years to come.
perspective by reviewing the personal implication of the author in the field of ANSYS and CFX based
aluminum reduction cell model development.
shifted from developing in-house finite difference models toward developing finite element models based
on commercial codes like ANSYS (Reference 1). In 1984, he was assigned to the development of a 3D
thermo-electric half anode ANSYS model (References 1, 2 and 3, see Figure 1). That model was developed
on ANSYS 4.1 installed on a shaded VAX 780 platform. That VAX was running a wide variety of
applications as it was the only general purpose computer used by an R&D organization of around 500
people. A Tektronix 4107 terminal was used to work on the VAX via a long distance dedicated telephone
line as that VAX was physically located in another city.
reduction cell technology. An instrumented anode campaign similar to the one presented in Reference 3
was also organized and carried out during the same period to support the model validation phase. That very
first 3D half anode model of around 4000 Solid 69 thermo-electric elements took two weeks elapse time to
compute on the VAX in the background batch "NEVER QUEUE".