ENCYCLOPÉDIE DE LA RECHERCHE SUR L’ALUMINIUM AU QUÉBEC 2013 | Page 24

22

PRODUCTION D’ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION

Modeling and simulation of
the green anode forming
process
MODELING AND SIMULATION OF THE GREEN ANODE FORMING PROCESS

MODÉLISATION ET SIMULATION DU PROCÉDÉ DE MISE EN FORME DES ANODES CRUES

H.CHAOUKI1, S.THIBODEAU1 , D.PICARD1 ,M.Fafard1 , H.Alamdari1 and D.Ziegler2
1

NSERC/Alcoa Industrial Research Chair MACE3 and Aluminum Research Centre – REGAL, Laval University
Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

2

Alcoa Primary Metals, Alcoa Technical Center, 100 technical Drive Alcoa Center, PA 15069-0001, USA

Introduction
In the aluminium electrolysis process, the anode quality plays an
important role. A poorly compacted carbon paste with significant density
gradients will reduce anode efficiency during the electrolysis process.

Objectives

Density variation along the radius: finite element analysis vs experiment

The aim of this work is to simulate the compaction process of the anode
paste with the finite element method. The purpose of these simulations is
to demonstrate the ability of this approach to predict the density
distribution into the anode paste during the compaction process.

Phase 1: material constitutive law

Phase 2: refinement of the constitutive law

 Improve to material model in order to characterize the interaction between the
anode paste and the mould wall;
 Perform compaction tests of anode paste with a flexible mould wall;
 Complex geometries will be included (slots and stub hole)

 Develop a nonlinear irreversible viscoelastic constitutive law to
characterize the anode paste behaviour;
 Perform compaction \