FEM Analysis of the Anode Connection in Aluminium Reduction Cells

A Fully Coupled Thermal‐Electrical‐Mechanical Transient FEA Model for a 3D Anode Assembly

“…Literature in the area was reviewed in recent years by Ding et al [2], Beier et al [3] and Fortin et al [4]. Their reviews highlighted a need for modeling the operation of the anode assembly more realistically and in greater depth towards achieving significant improvements in performance.…”

“…Ding et al used a similar approach in a subsequent work aimed at estimating the voltage losses attributed to stub tip deterioration in anode assemblies [8]. Beier et al [3] also investigated the impacts of stub deterioration in addition to that of yoke stiffness on the anode connection and hence on the performance of the anode assembly. They used the commercial code Ansys for meshing and, after some preprocessing with an in-house Laval University code FEsh++, they solved the steady state thermal-electrical-mechanical (TEM) cell operation problem also using FEsh++.…”

“…Dupuis [5] used Ansys for his works on anodes and cathodes. However, unlike Beier et al [3] and Fortin et al [4] who incorporated the air gap at room temperature in their CAD solid models, Dupuis [5] used varying reference temperatures (e.g. solidus temperature for cast iron and the average temperature during solidification for the anode and stubs) for thermal expansion in order to generate a value for the gap during his computations.…”

“…It is well known that opportunities for significant energy savings exist in the electrical connections and in particular the stub-tocarbon (STC) connection of pre-baked anode assemblies used in Hall-Héroult cells [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Given that smelting of metals is highly energy intensive and is performed on a large scale, any small improvement made in the design of anode assemblies is likely to translate into a large saving in operating costs and, potentially, to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.…”

Experimental Investigation of Factors Affecting the Electrical Performance of the Stub to Carbon Connection

“…In-situ measurements of the STC performance [1] reveal that the voltage drop through the connection can be approximately 120 mV, which represents the same order of magnitude as the average voltage drop in the anode block during service. It is now well recognised that relatively small improvements in STC performance can translate to considerable operational savings for smelter operations [2]. Similarly, deterioration of the steel stub due to cyclic loading in operation as well as in-process fit-up issues will lead to a net increase in STC voltage drop for the operation [3] [4].…”