The development and application of CFD models for water treatment flocculators

The use of CFD to simulate turbulent flows in laboratory and full scale flocculation processes commonly found at water treatment works is reported. The paper considers a range of modelling strategies and simulation techniques including, inter alia, steady and unsteady flow, two-equation and Reynolds stress turbulence modelling, sliding mesh and multiple reference frames approaches to rotational flow simulation, and mesh density optimisation. Through analysis of turbulence dissipation rate, this work considers the development of models for environmental engineering problem solving and demonstrates clearly the benefits to be gained from the use of CFD in flocculation vessels.