Study of the Influence of the Melt Pool Diameter on the Electrical and Thermal Parameters of an Induction Melting Furnace in a Cold Crucible with Bottom Heating

The results of numerical study of furnaces of induction melting in a cold crucible with bottom heating (IMCC-BH) for vitrification of radioactive waste (RAW). The article discusses the influence of the diameter of the glass melt pool on the electrical and thermal parameters of the furnace. The influence of distance between cold crucible bottom and side wall was also studied. The research method is numerical modeling using a 2D electro hydrodynamic (EHD) and 3D electromagnetic (EM) finite element model of glass melting. As a result of the study, it was found that the use of IMCC-BH furnace with an increase in the diameter of the melt pool increases the thermal efficiency of the furnace. In this case, cooling of the peripheral zone of the melt pool is observed with sufficient heating of the melt in the melting zone. Sufficient influence of the distance between cold crucible bottom and side wall on IMCC-BH furnace electrical parameters was also found. The regularities obtained were used in the design of IMCC-BH furnaces for RAW vitrification.