Combining COMSOL modeling with acoustic pressure maps to design sono-reactors

Area of Science:

• Chemical Engineering
• Acoustics
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Scalable and cost-effective sonochemical systems are essential for advancing ultrasound applications in environmental and chemical processing.
• Designing larger ultrasonic reactors requires accurate prediction and mapping of acoustic fields.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a larger-scale ultrasonic reactor using computational simulations and acoustic pressure mapping.
• To verify simulation results with experimental measurements for reactor design validation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized COMSOL Multiphysics for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of acoustic pressure.
• Employed hydrophone measurements to generate acoustic pressure contour maps for experimental verification.
• Designed a 5 L cylindrical reactor with a conical bottom based on simulation and experimental data.

Main Results:

• Simulations predicted multiple high acoustic pressure zones around a multi-stepped ultrasonic horn, with larger volumes near the horn neck.
• Experimental acoustic pressure maps confirmed simulation results, showing asymmetric and discrete cavitation zones.
• The effective cavitation zone scales were approximately 10 cm above and <5 cm below the horn tip.

Conclusions:

• Coupling COMSOL simulations with hydrophone measurements provides a reliable method for evaluating ultrasonic reactor designs.
• The developed methodology facilitates the design of efficient, scaled-up ultrasonic systems for practical applications.