Flocculation effect on turbidity flows generated by deep-sea mining: A numerical study

We have developed and investigated a hydrodynamic model of Deep-Sea Mining (DSM) collector turbidity flows that captures sediment particle aggregation and breakup. Flocculation is expected to have a significant impact on determining the spread patterns of the turbidity flows and the resulting turbidity currents. The recently validated drift...

A mild-slope formulation based on Weyl rule of association with application to coastal wave modelling

Weyl rule of association, proposed by Hermann Weyl for quantum mechanics applications (Weyl, 1931), can be used to associate between the dispersion relation of water waves and a non-local pseudo-differential operator. The central result of this study is that this operator correctly approximates the Dirichlet-to-Neumann operator derived for...

Applying a logistic growth equation to model flocculation of sediment in the presence of living and dead organic matter

In the present study, we aim to parameterize a flocculation model, based on a logistic growth equation, by conducting laboratory experiments. The flocculation experiments are performed using two types of natural sediments and different flocculating agents: salt (monovalent and divalent), extracellular polymeric substances, and living and dead...

Comparison between two analytical models to study the flocculation of mineral clay by polyelectrolytes

In the present article two flocculation models, given in Chassagne (2021) (LG model) and Winterwerp (1998) (S model) are compared. Both models give the time evolution dL/dt where L is the size of a particle undergoing flocculation, and t is the time. The LG model is based on logistic growth theory, whereas the S model is based on the theory...

Physics-Capturing Discretizations for Spectral Wind-Wave Models

This paper discusses the discretization methods that have been commonly employed to solve the wave action balance equation, and that have gained a renewed interest with the widespread use of unstructured grids for third-generation spectral wind-wave models. These methods are the first-order upwind finite difference and first-order vertex...

Accuracy aspects of conventional discretization methods for scalar transport with nonzero divergence velocity field arising from the energy balance equation

We are concerned with the numerical solution of a linear transport problem with nonzero divergence velocity field that originates from the spectral energy balance equation describing the evolution of wind waves and swells in coastal seas. The discretization error of the commonly used first-order upwind finite difference and first-order vertex...

Modelling flocculation: Towards an integration in large-scale sediment transport models

Despite recent advancement in the field of sediment transport, the integration of cohesive sediment properties in large-scale transport models remain a challenging task. In order to model adequately the change in particle size that occurs in different environmental conditions, flocculation models based on the so-called Population Balance...

Effect of different discretizations on the numerical solution of 2D aggregation population balance equation

This work is concerned with the assessment of the various discretizations used to obtain the numerical solutions of the bivariate aggregation population balance equation. It was illustrated in the literature that the accuracy and the efficiency of the numerical approximations is majorly controlled by the directionality and orientation of the...

On the behavior of mud floc size distribution: Model calibration and model behavior

In this paper, we study a population balance equation (PBE) where flocs are distributed into classes according to their mass. Each class i contains i primary particles with mass mp and size Lp. All differently sized flocs can aggregate, binary breakup into two equally sized flocs is used, and the floc’s fractal dimension is d0 = 2, independently...

Model-based optimization of the operation procedure of emulsification

Emulsions are widely encountered in the food and cosmetic industry. The first food we consume is an emulsion, namely breast milk. Other common emulsions are mayonnaise, dressings, skin creams and lotions. Equipment often used for the production of oil-in-water emulsions in the food industry consists of a stirred vessel in combination with a...

On the Riemann solutions of the balance equations for steam and water flow in a porous medium

Conservation laws have been used to model a variety of physical phenomena and therefore the theory for this class of equations is well developed. However, in many problems, such as transport of hot fluids and gases undergoing mass transfer, balance laws are required to describe the flow. As an example, in this work we obtain the solutions for...