Premium
A multiphase finite element simulation of biological conversion processes in landfills
Author(s) -
Ricken Tim,
Robeck Markus,
Widmann Renatus
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
pamm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1617-7061
DOI - 10.1002/pamm.200910014
Subject(s) - dispose pattern , leachate , energy balance , material balance , finite element method , conservation of mass , phase (matter) , municipal solid waste , porous medium , partial differential equation , mechanics , environmental science , petroleum engineering , porosity , process engineering , waste management , engineering , geotechnical engineering , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , structural engineering , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Worldwide, landfills are the most common way to dispose of waste, but have an impact on the environment as a result of harmful gas and leachate production. Estimating the long‐term behaviour of a landfill in regard to this gas production and organic degrading, as well as to settlement and waste water production, is of high importance. Therefore, a model has been developed to simulate these processes. This constitutive model is based on the multiphase Theory of Porous Media. The body under investigation consists of an organic and an inorganic phase as well as a liquid and a gas phase. The equations of the model are developed on the basis of a consistent thermo‐mechanical approach including the momentum balance for the solid phase and the mixture, the energy balance for the mixture and the mass balance for the gas phase. All interactions between the constituents such as mass transfers, interaction forces and energy fluxes are taken into consideration. The strongly coupled set of partial differential equations is implemented in the finite element code FEAP. The theoretical framework and the results of meantime successfully performed simulation of a real landfill body will be shown. (© 2009 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)