Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

We present ultrasound measurements from a laboratory model of a liquid metal battery (LMB). Two major flow
drivers interact within LMBs: thermal gradients due to the presence of internal heating, and electrovortex flow
(EVF) driven by diverging current densities. The product of these interactions remains poorly characterized. We
approach this problem with ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry (UDV) combined with a laboratory model of an LMB
fluid layer. Using ultrasound probes placed around a liquid gallium vessel, we elucidate typical velocities, flow
structures, and flow statistics in a representative volume of the flow field. UDV measurements reveal that pure
convection takes the form of the recently-discovered ‘jump rope vortex,’ with a characteristic frequency visible in
velocity statistics. They also indicate that EVF goes through stable, unstable, and oscillatory flow regimes. In
progress is an approach for training physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) on UDV data, allowing us to
reconstruct flow in regions where no probe measurements have taken place by leveraging the equations of motion.