In this work, a computation fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed to analyze the filtration process of an industrial-scale dead-end hollow fiber membrane commonly used in the pretreatment stage at desalination plants. In this model, the Navier-Stokes and the mass transport equations were formulated and solved using the finite element method. The results predicted by the model were in close agreement with the experimental data. Although several studies simulated the flux decline of a forward filtration process, yet limited studies considered the backwash phase explicitly. Accordingly, this work focuses on both the forward and backwash processes and successfully simulated different flow conditions, including the complete filtration blockage case. A sensitivity analysis of different operating parameters has been carried out. The model closely predicts the complete membrane blockage case within 10.2 % mean absolute percent error (MAPE). In addition, it has been found that the pollutant concentration is more sensitive to the forward duration phase in comparison to the forward inlet pressure. A linear relationship has been found between the forward time and total filtration, while cubic behavior ties total filtrate and the inlet pollutant concentration.

在这项工作中，开发了一种计算流体动力学（CFD）模型来分析在海水淡化厂的预处理阶段通常使用的工业规模的死角中空纤维膜的过滤过程。在该模型中，Navier-Stokes和质量传输方程式是使用有限元方法制定和求解的。该模型预测的结果与实验数据非常吻合。尽管一些研究模拟了正向过滤过程的通量下降，但有限的研究明确考虑了反洗阶段。因此，这项工作集中在正向和反冲洗过程上，并成功模拟了不同的流动条件，包括完整的过滤堵塞情况。已经对不同操作参数进行了灵敏度分析。该模型紧密预测了在10.2％的平均绝对百分比误差（MAPE）范围内的完整膜阻塞情况。另外，已经发现，与向前入口压力相比，污染物浓度对向前持续时间阶段更敏感。在前进时间和总过滤之间发现线性关系，而立方行为则将总滤液和入口污染物浓度联系起来。