3D FEM Calculation for the Temperature Field of the Aluminum Electrolysis Cell Using Ansys

The mathematical model of a three-dimensional temperature field in the full 300 kA aluminum electrolysis cell was calculated with ANSYS. The calculated results revealed that the thermal gradients strongly concentrated in the lateral freeze profile of the aluminum electrolysis cell, and the sharp temperature gradient in the insulating material under the cathode carbon block were also found, the temperature of liquid aluminum was between 1174-1233 K, the lowest temperature of bottom cell wall was about 322 K, which indicated that the temperature of the aluminum electrolysis cell bottom was overcooled, so the 300 kA aluminum electrolysis cell need to be redesigned to get the reasonable temperature field.