Application of differential quadrature to transport processes

Abstract

The methodology and numerical solution of problems concerning transport processes via the method of differential quadrature are presented. Application of the method is demonstrated by solving a simple one-dimensional, time-dependent (transient) diffusion process involving an irreversible reaction without any flux across the end boundary. In addition, the same technique is used (for the first time to the authors' knowledge) to solve a steady-state problem. For this purpose, a convection-diffusion problem involving an irreversible reaction is considered. The demonstration is carried out in two ways, (1) using the Bellman et al. technique which employs approximation formulas for higher order partial derivatives derived by iterating the linear quadrature approximation for the first order partial derivative, and (2) using individual quadratures to approximate the partial derivatives of first, as well as higher orders, as suggested by Mingle. Both approaches give the same results; however, the latter saves an appreciable amount of iterative computing effort despite the fact that it requires separate weighting coefficients for each individual quadrature. Since the technique of differential quadrature can produce solutions with sufficient accuracy even when using as few as three discrete points, both the programming task and computational effort are alleviated considerably. For these reasons the differential quadrature approach appears to be very practical in solving a variety of problems related to transport phenomena.