Electrodeposition is a widely-used technique for coating electrically conductive parts with metal layers. This electrochemical production process has a wide range of industrial applications such as corrosion protection, decorative purposes, realization of copper interconnects in semiconductor industry and electroforming of components in aerospace industry.

For the numerical simulation of electrolytic systems, we developed a comprehensive computational approach based on multiscale and stabilized finite element methods. All relevant physical fields (incompressible flow, ionic concentrations, electric field) are solved for in coupled form. The model includes nonlinear phenomenological reaction models for electrode surfaces. The computational method was recently extended, enabling a two-way coupling of flow field and electrochemistry for problems with non-negligible buoyancy forces caused by local density variations.