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Navigation: GeoDict 2025 - User Guide > Simulation & Prediction > AddiDict > Track Particles & Molecules |
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Experiment
Below the different panels of the Experiment tab are described in detail.
Select the Transport Mechanism by checking the Advection and/or Diffusion boxes in the upper left part of the Experiment tab. Checking Simulate Diffusion activates the simulation of random effects in particle movement. If the button is unchecked, the diffusivity is set to in the particle momentum equation. Checking Simulate Advection activates the computation of drag forces from the fluid. If it is unchecked, the velocity of the fluid is zero and therefore the particles move by diffusion only. In this case the Flow Boundary Conditions and the Flow Solver tab are grayed out. |
In the Simulated Time panel, the simulated End Time can be given. At each Time Step, the particle positions are evaluated for the spatial distribution, the breakthrough curve and the residence times. By clicking the Approximate Time button, the simulated time is automatically set such that, for the given average fluid Velocity (defined in the Flow Boundary Conditions panel), most particle trajectories will pass through the whole geometry and a full breakthrough curve is computed. This works only if the flow is the dominant process and not the diffusion. The Time Step value is automatically set to be 1% of the End Time. |
Estimated Dimensionless Numbers
In this panel, three Dimensionless Numbers are automatically estimated based on the defined parameters, provided a structure is loaded. They give the user an idea of how strongly advection and diffusion contribute to transport before the simulation is started. After the simulation, more precise values are listed in the report. The Courant number quantifies the extent to which particles, molecules, or concentration fields are transported through the structure by advection during the simulation. For instance, if , then the solute (particles, molecules, or the concentration field) is advectively transported by the flowing solvent across half of the domain. The Courant number is defined as where is the characteristic velocity estimated from the flow boundary conditions, is the simulation time (which equals the End Time, given that the initial time is zero), and is the length of the structure in the through direction. In contrast, the Fourier number quantifies the extent to which the solute (particles, molecules, or the concentration field) is transported through the structure by diffusion during the simulation. The Fourier number is defined as where is the characteristic diffusivity, taken as the maximum effective diffusivity across all existing materials. Finally, the Péclet number is the ratio of advective transport to diffusive transport. A Péclet number of infinity implies purely advective transport, whereas a value equal to zero corresponds to purely diffusive transport. The Péclet number is defined as |
In the Particle Boundary Conditions panel, the user can choose what happens when a particle arrives at the domain boundary. This can be done individually for each of the six domain sides. In the Periodic case, a particle that leaves through one side of the domain, enters on the opposite side of the domain. In the Reflective case, a particle is reflected at the boundary. In the Open case, the particle leaves the domain and is no longer tracked. Those particles are reported in the breakthrough curve. |
In the Flow Boundary Conditions panel, the Pressure Drop, the mean flow Velocity or the Flow Rate can be entered. In AddiDict, the flow is always computed in Z-direction. If another direction is wanted, the 3D model can be rotated with ProcessGeo prior to using AddiDict. Note that this part of the dialog is accessible only if Simulate Advection is checked. From the Flow PDE menu, the user specifies the equations to be solved to compute the fluid flow field required to simulate the particle movements and trajectories. (Navier-)Stokes equations describe fluid flow in structures containing only solid materials and pores. (Navier-)Stokes-Brinkman equations describe the flow through structures containing porous materials, solids, and pores. The used flow boundary conditions in X and Y direction are reported and the boundary condition in Z direction can be defined. The boundary conditions in X and Y direction are set automatically to fit to the chosen boundary conditions for the particle movement:
The boundary condition in Z direction, that can be selected, depends on the Flow PDE chosen above. For Stokes and Stokes-Brinkman equations, the boundary condition can be selected to be Periodic or Symmetric, for Navier-Stokes and Navier-Stokes-Brinkman equations, VinPout is set as boundary condition. Please refer to the FlowDict user guide for more details. Additionally, the Slip Length can be defined in the Flow Boundary Conditions panel. The Slip Length allows including sliding effects in the simulation. Sometimes the permeability of gases can be somewhat different from the permeability of liquids in the same media. One difference is attributable to "slippage" of gas at the interface with the solid when the gas mean free path is comparable to the pore size. The default Slip Length of zero corresponds to a flow velocity of zero along the structure. A non-zero Slip Length simulates the sliding of the fluid along the structure’s solid parts, increasing the fluid mean flux and thus, the permeability. This option might be used when it is realistic for a given physical material. Currently, the same slip length value must be set for all materials in the structure. The slip length is defined as an extrapolated distance inside the wall where the tangential velocity component vanishes. Find more details on the Slip Length here. For the No-Slip boundary condition an additional option is available. Use Second Order No-Slip which is activated by default sets the tangential velocity to zero at the center of the voxel surfaces and use a second order approximation of the velocity field. Find more details on this setting in the FlowDict user guide. |
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