347

2009,21(3):347-351
DOI: 10.1016/S1001-6058(08)60155-9

HYDRODYNAMICS OF FRACTAL FLOCS DURING SETTLING*

ZHANG Jin-feng
School of Civil Engineering, Key Laboratory of Harbour and Ocean Engineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin
University, Tianjin 300072, China, E-mail: coastlab@163.com
Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI 96822, USA
ZHANG Qing-he
School of Civil Engineering, Key Laboratory of Harbour and Ocean Engineering, Ministry of Education, Tianjin
University, Tianjin 300072, China

(Received April 21, 2008, Revised July 21, 2008)

Abstract: The settling and hydrodynamic properties of 3-D fractal flocs in quiescent water are investigated with a numerical model
based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), with considering the settling velocity, hydrodynamic drag force and infra-floc flow.
The comparisons of floc settling velocities and effective densities indicate that the numerical results present good agreements with
observations in field and at laboratory. The results show that the drag force FD increases with the floc size d f according to the
relationship FD v d 3f . Moreover, the intra-floc flow field and movement of the pore water provide a better understanding of the
intra-floc flow from the microscopic viewpoint. The results also indicate that the lattice Boltzmann method is a promising approach
to reveal the mechanisms of the flocculation in aquatic environments.

Key words: Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), fractal floc, hydrodynamic properties, drag force, infra-floc flow

1. Introduction  review of different methods to assess the mobility of

The settling properties of flocs or aggregates are
profoundly important for the removal of particles in
the water and wastewater treatment systems[1,2].
However, the settling and hydrodynamic properties
have not been well understood because the floc
formation processes and the structures of flocs are
quite complicated in the real environments[3]. To
improve our understanding, many concepts and
methods have been developed and employed in
theoretical and experimental analyses for aggregate
characteristics[4-7]. But, only relatively few studies
have addressed the hydrodynamic properties of flocs
after they have been formed [8-10]. One of the
hydrodynamic properties is the drag force, for which a
 successfully developed to examine the particle
* Project supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50779046, 50279029).
Biography: ZHANG Jin-feng (1978-), Female, Ph. D.
aggregates was given by Binder et al.[9]. Other
hydrodynamic properties, such as hydrodynamic
radius[8], permeability[8] and infra-floc flow[10] have
been extensively investigated. In their studies, the
aggregate characteristics and hydrodynamic properties
were explored successfully based on the theoretical
and experimental analyses. However, few studies use
hydrodynamic models to directly simulate the settling
processes of fractal flocs, which may be attributed to
the difficulties in the modeling of the complicated
structure of flocs and fluid-particle interaction using
traditional macroscopic approach.
The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is one
kind of hydrodynamic model based on mesoscopic
kinetic equations[11-14]. The LBM has been
suspensions[15-18]. The method is also used to simulate
the interaction characters between the particles,
aggregates and fluid[9,19,20]. Nguyen et al.[19] and
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Chopard et al.[20] investigated the drag force exerting
on the 2-D and 3-D fractal aggregates, which are rest
in flows. Binder et al.[9] compared the drag force on
aggregates and partially sintered agglomerates in slow
flows using the LBM with the accelerated Stokesian
dynamics. However, to our knowledge, there is no
investigation of the hydrodynamic properties of flocs
during settling using this method hitherto.
To ensure applicability of fractal floc settling
processes in quiescent water, a numerical model about
settling behavior of 3-D fractal mud floc via the LBM
was presented by Zhang and Zhang[21,22] , in which
they validated the model and described the
complicated fractal floc settling processes. To further
explore the hydrodynamics of fractal flocs, the present
study focuses on the settling velocity, hydrodynamic
drag force and infra-floc flow of aggregates during
settling based on the LBM.
2. Model
The details of theoretical foundations of the LBM
for simulating the settling of fractal mud flocs and
flocculation process of cohesive sediment can be
found in Ref.[21,22]. In this section, we will
specifically elaborate the solid-fluid boundary
condition.
Fig.1 Diagram of the LB lattice with a moving particle. The
moving particle boundary is represented by the solid
squares. Hollow and solid circles represent lattice sites
occupied by fluid and solid respectively. The hollow
circle at the middle of the particle locates its center of
mass
The LBM is well-suited for the specific problem
of modeling solid particle suspensions because of its
ability to solve particles movement with arbitrary
shapes and complex geometries. For a stationary solid
surface, a no-slip boundary condition is easily
implemented by using bounce-back method. For a
moving solid surface, the modified bounce-back
method, where the boundary is always assumed to be
located at the middle of the boundary links (Fig.1),
has been introduced to match the velocity of the solid
surface at the boundary node and to account for the
momentum transfer to the solid particle[15]. To account
for the momentum exchange change, Ladd’s collision
rule[15] is given by
f i' ( x , t + 't ) = fi ( x , t+ )  2 Bi ( ub <ei ) (1)
where f is the density distribution function, x is
the position of the node adjacent to the solid-surface
with velocity ub , t+ is the time immediately after
the collision, i ' is the reflected direction, which is
the opposite to the incident direction i . ei is the
discrete velocity vector, pointing from the node x to
the adjacent nodes. The velocity of the boundary node
ub is determined by the solid-particle translational
velocity U , the angular velocity ȍ , and the position
vector of the center X ,
1
ub = U + ȍ u ( x + ei 't  X ) (2)
2
The hydrodynamic force exerting on the solid
particle due to the solid-fluid interaction at the
boundary node is
1 1
Fb ( x + ei 't , t + 't ) = ei [2 fi ( x , t+ ) 
2 2
2 Bi (ub <ei )] (3)
Thus, momentum is exchanged locally between the
fluid and the solid particle, but the combined
momentum of solid and fluid is conserved. The
particle force F is obtained by summing F ( xb )
over all the boundary nodes associated with a
particular particle.
3. Results and discussions
3.1 Validation of 3-D fractal flocs settling
3-D fractal flocs can be composed by many
primary particles using the Diffusion Limited
Cluster-Cluster Aggregation (DLCCA) model[21,22].
The DLCCA was developed from the DLA, which
produces complex random fractal structures with
remarkable scaling and universality properties, where
only one particle is allowed to move at any time. The
DLCCA model[23] is more realistic for real colloidal
systems, in which clusters as well as individual
particles are mobile, and clusters of all sizes stick
together on contact. We simulate the settling
processes of 3-D fractal flocs constructed by using
DLCCA model here. Due to long computation time,

small fractal flocs, composed of 30, 50, 100, 300, 500
and 1000 primary particles, were studied. Here, the
fractal dimension D f , estimated by the “box
counting” method, was 1.73, 1.75, 1.79, 1.82, 1.85
and 1.87, respectively. Adhesion among the particles
was increased so that the flocs would not break down
during settling.
Fig.2 Relationship between floc size and settling velocity
Figure 2 shows the comparisons of the numerical
results and observations of the settling velocity and
the floc size in the Chesapeake Bay[24], in the Tamar
Estuary[25], in the Dollard Estuary[5], and at
laboratory[26]. As can be seen, the numerical results
match well the observed data. At the same time, we
compare the modeling results with Winterwerp’s
settling velocity formula with a fractal dimension of
1.83[21,22].
Fig.3 Relationship between floc size and effective density
The floc size, settling velocity and effective
density are the most important aggregate
characteristics. In practice, the effective densities of
flocs (solid circles in Fig.3) can usually be calculated
from floc sizes and settling velocities with the Stokes
law[5]. Figure 3 also shows the observed data of
effective density in the North Sea with LISST-100[27]
and calculated results from floc size and settling
velocity in the Dollard Estuary[5], and at laboratory[26].
The range of the effective density of the flocs in this
simulation is 30 kgm-3-400 kgm-3, which approaches
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the effective density of the real flocs compared to the
results obtained at laboratory or in field.
These results could suggest that the settling
properties of the fractal flocs are illuminated using
fully resolved numerical method from the mesoscopic
viewpoint. This is the foundation of studying the
aggregate mechanism and floc breakup in the aqueous
environments.
3.2 Hydrodynamic properties of 3-D fractal flocs
during settling
Much of fundamental research has focused on the
aggregate characteristics, such as the shape, size,
density and settling velocity, but few studies have
considered the hydrodynamic properties of the
aggregate after it has formed. Indeed, the
hydrodynamic behavior of aggregates during settling
will influence sedimentation behavior, coagulation
rate due to differential settling, particle size
distribution in water.
The drag forces exerting at the particles can be
calculated from the momentum transferred. Binder et
al.[9] used the momentum exchange approach to study
the drag force acting on the aggregate formed with a
Monte Carlo diffusion controlled cluster-cluster
aggregation algorithm, which has been placed in
differently sized channel flows. We apply this method
to investigating the drag force on fractal flocs during
settling.
Fig.4 Relationship between drag force flocs and floc size
Figure 4 depicts the drag force of different
aggregates during settling with respect to the
corresponding diameter. As a general trend the drag
force FD increases with the floc size d f , which
satisfies FD v d 3f . It is shown that the flow filed
around the flocs is the Stokes flow. At the same time,
it can also be seen that the ratio of drag force on flocs
to floc size is linearly proportional to the floc settling
velocity (Fig.5).
As is set forth, aggregates found in natural water
systems as well as water and wastewater treatment
applications can be described using fractal geometry.
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So aggregates have porous structures composed of
randomly packed spherical particles, where are filled
with pore water inside them. Then, pore water will
follow with flocs movement during settling in still
water. The distribution of infra-floc flow field and the
movement of the pore water are one of the key
problems to understand the hydrodynamic properties
of porous fractal aggregates.
Fig.5 Drag force on flocs related to floc diameter on the flcos
and with respect to the floc settling velocity
Fig.6 Flow field in the yz plane and streamlines around the
flocs ( N = 100 ) when t = 0.38s
One of the advantages of direct numerical
simulations from the mesoscopic viewpoint is that the
intra-floc flow field can be explored. The flow field in
the yz plane and streamlines around the flocs
( N = 100 ) at x = 90LU and x = 110LU are shown
in Fig.6. The flow velocity around the floc is much
larger than that far away from the floc. Figure 7
compares the fluid particle velocity near floc center
with the whole floc settling velocity. It is found that
the fluid particle velocity is basically the same as the
entire floc settling velocity. Pore water inside the floc
moves together with the floc, which is the same as the
floc settling processes in a natural water system. It is
important to explore the porosity structure and
intra-floc flow of aggregates from the microscopic
viewpoint for studying flocculation mechanism.
Fig.7 Comparison of the pore fluid velocity with the floc
settling velocity ( N = 100 )
4. Conclusions
A new numerical modeling approach has been
presented to study the hydrodynamic behaviors of
three-dimensional fractal flocs during settling in
quiescent water. Fractal flocs composed of 30, 50, 100,
300, 500 and 1000 particles are assumed to form by
the DLCCA model. The calculated floc settling
velocity and effective density are consistent with the
measuring data at laboratory and in field, which
validates the numerical modeling approach. The drag
force FD increases with the floc size d f according
the relationship FD v d 3f . Moreover, the distribution
of infra-floc flow field and the movement of the pore
water have been investigated. Pore water inside
aggregates would follow the floc movement during
settling in quiescent water.
It is concluded that the LBM is a powerful and
promising method to simulate complex flows,
including suspensions of colloidal and non-colloidal
particles, and porous media. It can further be applied
to simulate the flocculation process, i.e., the collision,
aggregation and floc breakage under environmental
action. The aggregate process due to differential
settling in different water systems is briefly discussed.
This will be further studied in a forthcoming article.
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