Tech Briefs

Simulation of a Ventilation System

The animation shown above is a 2-D solution of a fan ventilation system in an electrowinning tankhouse. Below the particle trace animation is a band plot of the steady-state mass fraction of acid mist. This turbulent flow and mass transfer problem was solved using ADINA version 8.2.

Electrowinning is the last stage in the purification of copper. This is an electrolytic process that produces significant quantities of toxic vapors in the form of an acid mist. The model used in this problem is a symmetric cross-section of an electrowinning tankhouse, depicted in the figure below. An air jet blows at 20 m/s above the mist-generating cells. Air from outside the tankhouse enters through the louvers located on the flanks and draws the contaminant from the electrolytic cells to form an air/mist solution which is expelled by the fan located in the chimney. The flow is turbulent with a Reynolds number higher than 200,000 inside the chimney. The cells are modeled as a mass flux boundary condition, and the fan is modeled by a fan curve, which is a new feature in ADINA-F.

The prediction of contaminant concentration inside the tankhouse and downstream of the fan provides useful data to check for compliance with environmental and safety regulations.