Dispersive transport in porous media with biofilms: local mass equilibrium in simple unit cells. (6th December 2010)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wood, B.D.; Golfier, F.; Quintard, M.
• Is Part Of: International journal of environment and waste management. Volume 7:Number 1/2(2011)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 48
• Publication Date: 2010-12-06
• Subjects: porous media -- biofilms -- dispersion -- local mass equilibrium -- averaging -- homogenisation; Refuse and refuse disposal -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Refuse collection -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- Periodicals; 363.72805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-9876

Abstract

In this work, we continue our study of upscaling biofilm processes in porous media from the pore scale to the Darcy scale. We adopt a continuum-level description of biofilms at the pore scale on the basis of work reported in Wood et al. (2002b). We upscale from the pore scale to the Darcy scale using the method of volume averaging and we predict the effective dispersion tensor with two- and three-dimensional closure problems. Our results indicate that, for a one-equation local mass equilibrium theory, the primary influence of the biofilm is that the effective diffusion coefficient is smaller than it would be without the presence of biofilm. This effect is important primarily at low Peclet numbers.