Numerical Study On Thermal-Elasto-Plastic And Creep Deformation Of Aluminum Electrolytic Cell

In normal state, the creep deformation of the aluminum electrolytic cell caused by temperature and deadweight has great effects on the safety and life of the shell. Deep and systematic researches on the thermal-elasto-plastic and creep deformation and its evolution in the aluminum electrolytic cell are meaningful to the safety design and life control of cell.With rapid developments of the numerical calculating method and computer technology, the function of various finite element analysis softwares is becoming more and more powerful. In the dissertation, the ANSYS, which is well developed and widely used in engineering, is employed to calculate and analyze the creep deformation of the aluminum electrolytic cell. The main works and contributions include:1) According to the structure features and working conditions, a three-dimensional (3D) aluminum electrolytic cell model including the inner lining was established to analyse its creep deformation under temperture and deadweight.2) Detail calculation and deep analysis of 3D thermal-structural couple fields are finished. First, the distribution of temperature field in the the steady state is obtained; then, the thermal elastic-plastic deformation of cell is calculated. The result shows that when the temperature field reaches the steady state, some parts of the cell usually enter plasticity and there exists greater stress concentration in the inner lining.3) The calculation and analysis of creep deformation of aluminum electrolytic cell under temperature and deadweight loads are finished. The result indicates that, after the aluminum electrolytic cell works 500 days in normal state, the maximum strain caused by creep is approximately 0.9%.