P. Baekler’s scientific contributions

Details of the development process for a high-performance reduction cell operating at 300 kA are presented. The conceptual design of this pot was started from scratch and was based solely on computer simulations. The project was completed within fifteen months. This short development time was possible due to a highly productive simulation environment that covers all relevant fields, like magnetic field calculations, magneto-hydrodynamics, MHD stability as well as electrical and thermal field simulations. Technical details of the basic design of this cell, numerical results and measurements will be presented.

Three dimensional flow field pattern and current density distribution in a Hall-Heroult cell is calculated with an extended version of the software package ESTER/PHOENICS. Boundary conditions for the electrical potential are derived from an electrical network simulation of the bus bar system. The magnetic effect of the steel parts is evaluated by the so-called direct method.