Journal article
CFD simulation of non-Newtonian fluid flow in anaerobic digesters
Biotechnology and bioengineering, Vol.99(3), pp.700-711
02/15/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/110407
PMID: 17705227
Abstract
A general mathematical model that predicts the flow fields in a mixed-flow anaerobic digester was developed. In this model, the liquid manure was assumed to be a non-Newtonian fluid, and the flow governed by the continuity, momentum, and k-epsilon standard turbulence equations, and non-Newtonian power law model. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, Fluent, was applied to simulate the flow fields of lab-scale, scale-up, and pilot-scale anaerobic digesters. The simulation results were validated against the experimental data from literature. The flow patterns were qualitatively compared for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids flow in a lab-scale digester. Numerical simulations were performed to predict the flow fields in scale-up and pilot-scale anaerobic digesters with different water pump power inputs and different total solid concentration (TS) in the liquid manure. The optimal power inputs were determined for the pilot-scale anaerobic digester. Some measures for reducing dead and low velocity zones were proposed based upon the CFD simulation results.
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Details
- Title
- CFD simulation of non-Newtonian fluid flow in anaerobic digesters
- Creators
- Binxin Wu - Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164, USAShulin Chen
- Publication Details
- Biotechnology and bioengineering, Vol.99(3), pp.700-711
- Academic Unit
- Biological Systems Engineering, Department of
- Publisher
- United States
- Identifiers
- 99900547158701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article