Size distribution of the bubbles in the Hall-Heroult cells

Bubbles in the Hall-Haroult cells act as a momentum source, but they also represent an additional electrical resistance. In order to understand how bubbles play their role, the evolution of the bubble layer structure - namely the number, size and spatial distribution of the bubbles - need to be known. As direct observation is not possible, we have little information about bubble sizes. Neither small scale electrolysis cells nor real scale water-air model can reproduce correctly the morphology of the bubble layer in the electrolysis cell. A mathematical model using the Lagrangian description of the bubble layer has been built and presented in earlier papers. The simulator was first validated with industrial scale air-water systems then the bubble size distribution was calculated using physical properties of the real cell. This paper presents the impact of cell design on the structure of the bubble layer as computed with our simulator.