Numerical investigation of molten glass in a square cavity using finite element method

In this study, natural convection of molten glass in a Joule-heated cavity flow is analyzed using the FEM. The GSMAC-FEM is utilized for incompressible viscous flow. The energy equation and Ampere-Maxwell equation are computed by the node-based FEM and edge-based FEM respectively. The solvers of three fields, i.e. flow field, thermal field and electromagnetic field, are coupled through a staggered scheme to simulate the flow behavior. Two carbon plates are placed on opposing side walls of the cavity model and connected a constant AC voltage to generate an internal heat source. The top surface of the cavity model is cooled by constant temperature. In order to confirm the numerical code, velocity and temperature profile is measured at center of cavity using electric conducting fluid of 80wt% glycerol. The numerical results and experimental data have a good agreement in time histories of temperature. It was confirmed that the upflow behavior of molten glass in the cavity depends on magnetic permeability.