MHD natural convection flow in a liquid metal electrode. (5th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Beltrán, Alberto
• Is Part Of: Applied thermal engineering. Volume 114(2017:Mar.)
• Page Start: 1203
• Page End: 1212
• Publication Date: 2017-03-05
• Subjects: Natural convection -- Liquid metal electrode -- Lorentz force -- Liquid metal battery; Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heating -- Equipment and supplies -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 621.40205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.09.006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-4311

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Natural convection in a LME displays the typical Bénard cells. The flow organizes due to the Lorentz force. Ohmic heating also contributes to changes in the flow. Good agreement is observed between numerical and the reported experimental results. Abstract: The liquid metal battery is a novel grid-scale electricity storage technology; it operates at elevated temperature and consists of three horizontal liquid layers in stable density stratification. Due to the elevated temperature to keep the batteries liquid, thermal convection appears, also, during the charging/discharging processes a large electrical current density interacts with its own magnetic field generating a Lorentz force that induces motion in the stratified system. In this article, the natural convection in a liquid metal electrode (LME) candidate for LMBs is studied from a numerical point of view. Additionally, it is of interest to investigate the effect of the electrical current density on the natural convection through the Lorentz force, whose effect is called MHD natural convection. The mathematical modelling for this problem involves the solution of mass, momentum, energy and electromagnetic equations for an incompressible, viscous and electrically conducting fluid. A 3D numerical solution is implemented using the open source CFD library OpenFOAM. Numerical results indicate that the convective flow organizes due to the current. Results are compared as far as possible with experimental data.