Metal pad roll instability in liquid metal batteries

Liquid metal batteries, built as a stable density stratification of two liquid metals and a molten salt are considered as a promising candidate for grid-scale energy storage in the future.
Long-wave interface instabilities, as known from aluminium smelters, may short-ci rcuit a liquid metal battery and must therefore be avoided. First simulations of this instability, carried out in the free CFD library OpenFOAM, are presented.