Open AccessMicro-macro transition for numerical simulation of submerged membrane bioreactor
Author(s) -
Dessislava Moutafchieva,
Veselin Iliev
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the eurobiotech journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2564-615X
DOI - 10.2478/ebtj-2020-0009
Subject(s) - macro , membrane , permeability (electromagnetism) , computer simulation , work (physics) , porous medium , darcy's law , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , membrane structure , computer science , materials science , porosity , simulation , mechanical engineering , chemistry , engineering , physics , biochemistry , composite material , programming language
The objective of this work is numerical simulation of the membrane by direct analysis at micro, meso and macro level. This approach includes first a defining and modeling of a basic structural unit, after that simulation of a fragment as a representative element of the membrane structure. Then the results obtained to transfer for the entire membrane module and finally modeling of the membrane as porous media with calculated permeability. The numerical simulation was done with Ansys CFX, using the Darcy’s equation for flow through porous media with configuration of the membrane and second order backward Euler transient scheme for solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The permeability of the membrane is determined at a micro and macro level by computer simulation for different fluids, which allows to evaluating the influence of the viscosity on the flow passing through the membrane. This micro-macro approach is quite efficient and cost-effective because it saves time and requires less computer capacity and allows direct analysis of the complex structure of the membrane modules.