The sediDriftFoam is an open source solver using the OpenFOAM CFD library. It computes suspended particles in a fluid flow using and Eulerian approach. This means that the particles are computed as a concentration instead of following individual particles.
The current web page contains supplementary information for the article:
Olsen, N. R. B., Kadia, S., Pummer, E. and Hillbrand, G. (2023) An OpenFOAM solver for computing suspended particles in water currents, doi:10.2166/hydro.2023.309. Journal of Hydroinformatics.
The solver has been tested on two cases:
1. A straight channel flume, 6.7 cm deep and 8 meters long, where concentrations of suspended plastic particles have been measured (Born et al, 2023).
2. Deposition of sand in a sand trap geometry from a flume study by Olsen and Skoglund (1994).
The figure below shows a longitudinal profiles of a channel with plastic particle concentrations.
Longitudinal profile with plastic concentrations. The flow direction is from left to right. The figure is distorted with a factor 10 in the vertical direction.
3D view of the sand trap with sand concentration and grid
Plastic concentrations in a laboratory flume
Sand deposition in a sand trap geometry
Born, M., Brull, C., Schaefer, D., Hillebrand, G. and Schuttrumpf, H. (2023) Determination of Microplastics vertical concentration transport (Rouse) profiles in flumes, Environmental Science and Technology, doi:10.1021/acs.est.2c06885.
Olsen, N. R. B. and Skoglund, M. (1994), Three-dimensional numerical modeling of water and sediment flow in a sand trap, Journal of Hydraulic Research, Vol. 32, No. 6,pp. 833-844.
Last updated 31. May 2025.