[matt.mech.eng]

Hi all,

I am beginning a final year thesis in my engineering degree, in which I am attempting to model the flow inside an aeration tank with particles suspended in water.

I am quite new to OpenFOAM (and CFD in general) so am doing a fair bit of research into how exactly I will setup the problem, what solver I will use etc. I understand that this is a fairly complex task. My thinking is that I will use bubbleFoam to simulate the flow. However I was wondering if it is possible to incorporate a one-way coupled lagrangian particle tracking simulation and insert the suspension particles into the flow? Does anyone have any ideas about how to go about a problem like this?

The suspension particles are actually quite large, pieces of seaweed roughly 1-2cm long, from what I understand lagrangian particle tracking in OpenFOAM will use spherical particles. Are there methods of modelling different shaped particles in OpenFOAM?

I understand that I havent really defined the problem yet I am trying to get a feel for the options available with OpenFOAM. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

Matt