Electro-vortex flow in liquid metal batteries


Electro-vortex flow in liquid metal batteries

Nore, C.; Ziebell Ramos, P.; Herreman, W.; Cappanera, L.; Guermond, J.-L.; Weber, N.

We study the generation of rotational flows in electrically conducting fluids due to the Electro-Vortex-Flow (EVF) phenomenon, i.e. the interaction of a non-uniform current with the magnetic field it generates. We have been developing a so-called code SFEMaNS since 2001 [2] capable of simulating the nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in heterogeneous domains (with electrical conductivity or magnetic permeability jumps) in axisymmetric geometries and with several fluids [1]. Liquid Metal Batteries are composed of three layers of fluids (liquid metal electrode–electrolyte–liquid metal electrode) of different densities lying over each other and stabilized by gravity. These batteries are prone to magnetohydrodynamical instabilities (e.g. the Tayler instability [3], the Metal Pad Roll instability [4], etc) which may deform the electrode–electrolyte interfaces until the ultimate situation of short circuit when the two metals touch each other.
In this talk we first discuss the typical intensity and structure of the axisymmetric flow in a liquid metal column covered by many previous studies. After that, we focus on EVF in liquid metal batteries (see figure 1). We discuss the deformation of the electrolyte-liquid metal interfaces caused by EVF and we characterize how EVF helps in mixing the bottom alloy layer.

  • Lecture (Conference)
    17th European Turbulence Conference, 03.09.2019, Turin, Italien

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-28838
Publ.-Id: 28838