Research group Wehinger

The Wehinger group investigates porous reactive systems with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and accompanied experiments. One focus are particle-resolved CFD simulations of catalytic fixed-bed reactors. Every single particle in the reactor is captured geometrically. In the gas phase the three-dimensional transport of mass, momentum, species mass, and energy is solved with the finite volume method. Energy and species mass can be exchanged with the pellet phase. However, not only small-scale phenomena can be investigated with CFD simulations. Design studies can be carried out fast and inexpensive in order to achieve a topology optimization considering flow, heat transport and chemical conversion. Since CFD simulations are based on CAD models, they can be manufactured quickly with 3D printing. In recent projects, we look at the coupling of CFD simulations and reactor design with additive manufacturing for structured reactors and pellet designs for fixed-bed reactors. These research approaches have been also transferred to electrochemical and metallurgic processes.