Section: New Results

Ecology and sustainable energies

Hydrodynamic-biology coupling

Participants : Olivier Bernard [Inria BIOCORE] , Anne-Céline Boulanger, Marie-Odile Bristeau, Raouf Hamouda, Jacques Sainte-Marie.

An important part of our research activity is built around a biological and industrial problem: the simulation of the coupling of hydrodynamics and biology in the context of industrial microalgae culture in outdoor raceways. The numerical modelling is adressed with the use of a multilayer vertical discretization of hydrostatic Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a light sensitive Droop model. Numerically, kinetic schemes allow for the development of efficient, positivity preserving, well balanced and entropy satisfying schemes. Simulations are carried out in 2D and 3D [1] . From a practical point of view, this model is capable of accounting for the utility of a paddlewheel and exhibits Lagrangian trajectories underwent by algae. Hence providing hints on the light history of algae in the pond, which is a key information to biologists, since it enables them to adapt their phytoplankton growth models to those particular, non natural conditions.