Simplified process modeling for technical processes

In addi­ti­on to the com­pu­ta­tio­nal­ly com­plex CFD or FEM simu­la­ti­on methods, it is often neces­sa­ry or useful to depict tech­ni­cal pro­ces­ses through sim­pli­fied pro­cess mode­ling. Typi­cal appli­ca­ti­on are­as of sim­pli­fied pro­cess models would be for example:

  • Fast simu­la­ti­on models for the ope­ra­tio­nal plan­ning of cer­tain plants or processes
  • Cal­cu­la­ti­on of boun­da­ry con­di­ti­ons for mate­ri­al pro­per­ty models for qua­li­ty assurance
  • Opti­miza­ti­on of con­trol parameters
  • Models for online controllers

In gene­ral, the­re are seve­ral mode­ling approa­ches from which can be sel­ec­ted depen­ding on the requi­re­ments of the pro­cess model. Typi­cal model­ling approa­ches are the use of phy­si­cal equa­tions as well as methods of arti­fi­ci­al intel­li­gence or regres­si­on tech­ni­ques and mix­tures of both.

A more recent approach is the so-cal­led Redu­cing Order Methods, in which a deve­lo­ped 3D model is redu­ced to a sim­pli­fied model with the help of mathe­ma­ti­cal and com­pu­ta­ti­on-inten­si­ve methods. The­se methods are part of cur­rent rese­arch and will beco­me incre­asing­ly important in the near future.

In addi­ti­on, the­re are various pos­si­bi­li­ties to prepa­re results of CFD simu­la­ti­ons and to use them in sim­pli­fied models as boun­da­ry con­di­ti­on para­me­ters. Howe­ver, this is only pos­si­ble for a small num­ber of vary­ing para­me­ters in CFD simulation.

Examples

The fol­lo­wing is a brief over­view of various types and appli­ca­ti­ons of pro­cess models: