Realizable high-order finite-volume schemes for quadrature-based moment methods applied to diffusion population balance equations

Population balance equations with advection and diffusion terms can be solved using quadrature-based moment methods. Recently, high-order realizable finite-volume schemes with appropriate realizability criteria have been derived for the advection term. However, hitherto no work has been reported with respect to realizability problems for the diffusion term. The current work focuses on developing high-order realizable finite-volume schemes for diffusion. The pitfalls of existing finite-volume schemes for the diffusion term based on the reconstruction of moments are discussed, and it is shown that realizability can be guaranteed only with the 2nd-order scheme and that the realizability criterion for the 2nd-order scheme is the same as the stability criterion. However, realizability of moments cannot be guaranteed when higher-order moment-based reconstruction schemes are used. To overcome this problem, realizable high-order finite-volume schemes based on the reconstruction of weights and abscissas are proposed and suitable realizability criteria are derived. The realizable schemes can achieve higher than 2nd-order accuracy for problems with smoothly varying abscissas. In the worst-case scenario of highly nonlinear abscissas, the realizable schemes are 2nd-order accurate but have lower error magnitudes compared to existing schemes. The results obtained using the realizable high-order schemes are shown to be consistent with those obtained using the 2nd-order moment-based reconstruction scheme.