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A conservative method for numerical solution of the population balance equation, and application to soot formation

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Title: A conservative method for numerical solution of the population balance equation, and application to soot formation
Authors: Liu, A
Rigopoulos, S
Item Type: Journal Article
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to present a finite volume method for the discretisation of the population balance equation with coagulation, growth and nucleation that combines: (a) accurate prediction of the distribution with a small number of sections, (b) conservation of the first moment (or any other single moment) in a coagulation process, (c) applicability to an arbitrary non-uniform grid, and (d) speed and robustness that make it suitable for combining with a CFD code for solving problems such as soot formation in flames. The conservation of the first moment of a distribution with respect to particle volume is of particular importance for two reasons: it is an invariant during a coagulation process and it represents conservation of mass. The method is based on a geometric evaluation of the double integrals arising from the finite volume discretisation of the coagulation terms and an exact balance of coagulation source and sink terms to ensure moment conservation. Extensive testing is performed by comparison with analytical solutions and direct numerical solutions of the discrete PBE for both theoretical and physically important coagulation kernels. Finally, the method is applied to the simulation of a laminar co-flow diffusion sooting flame, in order to assess its potential for coupling with CFD, chemical kinetics, transport and radiation models. The results show that accurate solutions can be obtained with a small number of sections, and that the PBE solution requires less than one fourth of the time of the complete simulation, only half of which is spent on the discretisation (the remaining being for the evaluation of the temperature dependence of the coagulation kernel).
Issue Date: 1-Jul-2019
Date of Acceptance: 8-Apr-2019
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/71014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2019.04.019
ISSN: 0010-2180
Publisher: Elsevier
Start Page: 506
End Page: 521
Journal / Book Title: Combustion and Flame
Volume: 205
Copyright Statement: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Keywords: 0902 Automotive Engineering
0904 Chemical Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Energy
Publication Status: Published
Online Publication Date: 2019-05-11
Appears in Collections:Mechanical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering