Sloshing instability and electrolyte layer rupture in liquid metal batteries

Abstract

Liquid metal batteries (LMBs) are discussed today as a cheap grid scale energy storage, as required for the deployment of fluctuating renewable energies. Built as a stable density stratification of two liquid metals separated by a thin molten salt layer, LMBs are susceptible to short-circuit by fluid flows. Using direct numerical simulation, we study a sloshing long wave interface instability in cylindrical cells, which is already known from aluminium reduction cells. After characterising the instability mechanism, we investigate the influence of cell current, layer thickness, density, viscosity, conductivity and magnetic background field. Finally we study the shape of the interface and give a dimensionless parameter for the onset of sloshing as well as for the short-circuit.