CFD Simulation

Overview

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve the governing equations of fluid flow problems and obtain a detailed numerical description of the complete flow field of interest.

AguaClara small-scale water treatment plants are composed of gravity powered unit processes. The relative inflexibility of energy input into the water in gravity powered systems requires better studied design, as opposed to conventional electric-powered, mechanically driven treatment plants. However, few guidelines are available for designing gravity powered systems. The objective of CFD simulation team is to build a stable and reliable CFD model (using commercial CFD package FLUENT ) to simulate and analyze the flow in different parts of AguaClara treatment plants, and thus to provide guidelines for the geometry and operation towards better performance and lower costs.

So far, the results of CFD simulation have already facilitated our understanding of hydraulic flocculation tank and led to some conclusions that can be incorporated in our design.

Research

Flocculation Tank Simulation: Spring 2009 research topics on performance parameter analysis and 3D simulation

Implications for Design

flocculator height/width ratio: a clear trend of flocculation performance was observed with various flocculator height/channel width ratio

flocculator clearance height: there is no need to make the clearance height larger than flocculation channel width, making it possible to handle higher flow rates with the same channel width

Additional Information

FLUENT tips
[Presentations]