Stacked Rapid Sand Filtration Theory
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The overarching goal of the Stacked Rapid Sand Filter Theory team is to develop a mathematical model for filter performance. A new apparatus will be designed to model a stacked rapid sand filter. Experiments with constant turbidity and varying coagulant dosages will be run and analyzed. From the analyzed data we hope to be able to create a model that will be able to predict the expected head loss of a given SRSF filter if the coagulant dosage and amount of solids already accumulated in the filter are known. |
Spring 2013 (formerly called Depth vs. Surface Sand Filtration)
The big goal of this research is to understand the difference between surface and depth filtration and the parameters that determine which regime is operative. We suspect that subsurface injection of the water to be filtered shifts the regime to depth filtration. The head loss and effluent turbidity were measured and compared between a control filter, where water is added above the filter in a conventional downflow design, and a subsurface injection filter in which water is injected into the middle of sand bed through a smaller tube modelling a slotted pipe in the Stacked Rapid Sand Filter.
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Calculations for flow rate
Process Controller Files
Summer 2013
Tasks for this summer involved finding the parameters at which the subsurface injection filter becomes clogged. Using the experimental apparatus built in the Spring 2013 semester, the team continued research comparing the surface and subsurface sand filters. The team ran experiments and changed the influent turbidity, influent velocity, and coagulant dosage. Effects on head loss and effluent turbidity will be observed and analyzed. It was observed that subsurface filtration performed better than surface filtration for shorter periods of time.
Fall 2013
The SRSF Theory team redesigned and built a new filter column and experimental apparatus using a combination of the former experimental apparatus and new parts. Calculations were done to design the apparatus so that it best models stacked rapid sand filters in AguaClara plants. A Process Controller method file was written to run experiments and collect data. Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Control was implemented so that influent turbidity can be held constant at a desired value. Experiments varying coagulant dosage were run. Effluent turbidity and head loss data were collected and analyzed to assess filter performance and start a mathematical model of filter performance.
Spring 2014
This semester, the SRSF Theory team ran several experimental tests on the redesigned filter column and experimental apparatus. PACl dosages were varied between tests in order to analyze the trends in filter performance and head loss in relation to time and the amount of mass being added to the system. Progress towards developing a mathematical model to relate the maximum amount of head loss and the minimum sand pore diameter were in progress during the semester, but were stopped in order to reanalyze a previous hypothesis on the expected trend of head loss. Due to experimental data, several theories were proposed to explain the linearly increasing head loss after filter failure and are currently being assessed for its validity.
Fall 2014
The StaRS Theory team designed experiments to test the hypotheses on water flow through the filter and the resulting head loss. The team analyzed the effluent turbidity and head loss data from Spring 2014 and found that while head loss depends on coagulant dosage, the results vary greatly. The experimental apparatus was rebuilt from the details of the previous semesters. The sand from the filter was removed and sieved so that sand stratification was reduced within the filter column. With the sand outside of the filter, the team tested for head loss across the mesh of the inlet and outlet pipes for the stacked rapid sand filter. In certain experiments, head loss was significant, though the collected data was rather inconclusive. A motion towards a stacked rapid sand filter without slotted pipes, as well as an accompanying experimental model, was recommended.
Spring 2015
The StaRS Theory team will design an apparatus to test the clogging across slotted pipes and evaluate their performance in stacked rapid sand filters. The team will continue to test stacked rapid sand filters with varying coagulant and collect data to create a mathematical model describing filter performance.
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