TITLE:
Optimization in Mixing Operation Processes in Water Treatment Plants through the Development of a Finite Element Hydrodynamic Model
AUTHORS:
Pablo R.-Vellando, Ricardo Juncosa, Francisco Padilla, Hector García-Rábade
KEYWORDS:
Agitation, Finite Element Method, Mixing, Navier-Stokes, Optimization, Water Treatment, Multidimensional Constrained Direct Optimization
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.18 No.10,
October
23,
2026
ABSTRACT: This work shows the achievements obtained in the numerical optimization of mixing operations in water treatment plants thanks to the development of a Finite Element hydrodynamic code that evaluates and optimises the hydrodynamics of such processes. Some water treatment units present important deficiencies in their design. The numerical optimization of the flow manages to avoid the high expenses of the trial and error processes involved in building, installing and removing the mixing mechanisms, channels and basins, and those derived from the need of halting the water treatment processes. As a result, an optimum design of the treatment plant is obtained at a low cost.