Assessment of cathode swelling pressure using nonlinear finite element technique

This paper presents a new technique to determine the magnitude of swelling pressure acting on the shell side walls of aluminum reduction cells. A nonlinear finite element model for the shell is developed taking into consideration material non-linearity and influence of temperature on the mechanical properties. A system identification technique (inverse problem) is used to estimate the swelling pressure by solving the forward non-linear problem in conjugate with measured side wall deformations of an operating cell. The outcome of the inverse problem revealed that the proposed technique is efficient and capable of capturing the essential features of the swelling phenomenon and hence the shell structural response using a simple field deformation measurement.