Advances in computational fluid dynamics applied to biosystems

Abstract

The study of the environmental conditions in the biological process is complicated, as in many cases it is necessary to use models based on energy transfer. Mathematical models based on mass and energy balances assume a homogeneous environment. These models generate a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations without an analytical solution. However, a more detailed monitoring of the environment inside these processes reflects a two-dimensional and threedimensional variability of environment variables. Recently, this problem has been tackled using the fundamental equations of fluid dynamics. The set of numerical methods applied in order to solve those equations are called Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This technique provides a numerical solution from an energy balance of a controlled volume, which in comparison with other methods and expensive technologies allows an efficient study of the environment conditions (Rico-Garcia et al. 2008). CFD considers the values of the independent variables as primary unknowns in a finite number of places inside the domain, and then a set of algebraic equations are derived from the fundamental equations applied to the domain and can be solved by pre-established algorithms.