A new discretization of space for the solution of multi-dimensional population balance equations

Abstract

In this work, a novel radial grid is combined with the framework of minimal internal consistency of discretized equations of Chakraborty and Kumar [2007. A new framework for solution of multidimensional population balance equations. Chemical Engineering Science 62, 4112–4125] to solve n-dimensional population balance equations (PBEs) with preservation of ( n + 1 ) instead of 2 n properties required in direct extension of the 1-d fixed pivot technique of Kumar and Ramkrishna [1996a. On the solutions of population balance equation by discretization-I. A fixed pivot technique. Chemical Engineering Science 51, 1311–1332]. The radial grids for the solution of 2-d PBEs are obtained by intersecting arbitrarily spaced radial lines with arcs of arbitrarily increasing radii. The quadrilaterals obtained thus are divided into triangles to represent a non-pivot particle in 2-d space through three surrounding pivots by preserving three properties, the number and the two masses of the species that constitute the newly formed particle. Such a grid combines the ease of generating and handling a structured grid with the effectiveness of the framework of minimal internal consistency. A new quantitative measure to supplement visual comparison of two solutions is also introduced. The comparison of numerical and analytical solutions of 2-d PBEs for a number of uniform and selectively refined radial grids shows that the quality of solution obtained with radial grids is substantially better than that obtained with the direct extension of the 1-d fixed pivot technique to higher dimensions for both size independent and size dependent aggregation kernels. The framework of Chakraborty and Kumar combined with the proposed 2-d radial grid, which offers flexibility and achieves both reduced numerical dispersion and the ease of implementation, appears as an effective extension of the widely used 1-d fixed pivot technique to solve 2-d PBEs.