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Purpose: This document presents a brief description of modeling residence time distribution. Different
approaches for calculating mean residence time are reviewed.
Introduction
In chemical reaction engineering, residence time distribution (RTD) and mean residence time are the two
important parameters considered in the design of reactors. Residence time is a measure of the total time spent
by the fluid molecules within the reactor. Mean residence time is the average of the residence time of all
molecules in the domain.
The RTD for process equipment is usually measured using stimulus-response tracer experiments to detect
design flaws such as bypass, channeling, and dead zones, in addition to characterizing the mean residence
time and standard deviation of a reactor. This measurement is usually done when a complete velocity
distribution map for the fluid in the vessel is not available. Because CFD is capable of predicting the
complete velocity distribution in a vessel, it provides an alternative and simpler means of determining the
RTD. In addition, the RTD curves are useful tools that can be used to compare the CFD results with
experimental results.
There are multiple approaches available for predicting residence time distribution with FLUENT. The tracer
fluid can be treated as a continuum by solving a transport equation for the tracer species. Two common
methods for solving the tracer species are:
1. Species transport model
2. User defined scalar (UDS) transport model
The two commonly used approaches for calculating residence time using tracer analysis are the pulse method
and step method.
t i Ci
Mean residence time, t = i
(1)
Ci
i
Procedure:
1. Activate species transport model using the Define Models Species Transport and
Reaction panel.
2. In the Define Materials panel, create a new fluid species “tracer” with the same physical
properties as the test fluid.
3. For the mixture material in the Define Material panel, select following properties.
a. Mixture species: tracer and test fluid
b. Density: volume-weighted-mixing-law
4. In the Define Boundary Condition panel, set the tracer mass fraction at the inlet equal to zero.
5. Disable the tracer species equation in the Solve Controls Solution panel.
6. Solve the steady state flow field to obtain a converged solution.
7. Enable the unsteady option in the Define Models Solver panel.
8. Set the tracer mass fraction at the inlet equal to 1.
9. Disable the flow equation through the Solve Controls Solution panel and choose the tracer
equation for the solution of the species transport.
10. Define a Surface Monitor to monitor the area-weighted-averaged concentration of tracer mass
fraction with flow time at the outlet. Activate the Plot and Write options to write the monitor data to a
file. For detailed information, please refer to:
http://www.fluentusers.com/fluent/doc/ori/html/ug/node1279.htm
11. Iterate one time step.
12. Set the tracer mass fraction at the inlet back to 0.
13. Solve the transient solution of the species equation.
14. Calculate the mean residence time from the monitor data using Equation 1.
Procedure:
Perform the steps #1 through #10 from the pulse method. Then, do the following:
1. Solve the transient solution of the species equation.
2. Calculate the mean residence time from the monitor data using Equation 2.
Tips/Troubleshooting
1. Species/UDS diffusion can adversely affect the prediction of RTD through CFD. To minimize this
diffusion effect, the mass diffusivity of the mixture should be a small value (e.g., 1e-15 m2/s) in the case
where the species transport model is used for the RTD calculation. Similarly, the UDS diffusivity of the
fluid should be a small value (e.g., 1e-7 kg/m-s) if the UDS model is used.
2. Time step size should be adjusted based upon the number of iterations required to converge the solution
in each time step. Ideally, the solution should converge (species/UDS residual around 1e-4) within 10 to
20 iterations in each and every time step.
3. For a RTD calculation in unsteady flows, the tracer equation (either Species or UDS) should be turned on
at time t = 0. The flow and tracer equations will be solved simultaneously.