CFD-DNS simulation of irregular-shaped particle dissolution

A coupled approach between the conventional computational fluid dynamics platform COMSOL and an in-house-developed direct numerical simulation code DigiDiss is presented to study the dissolution kinetics of an irregular-shaped particle in a stirred cuvette. The complex flow dynamics from COMSOL were imported into DigiDiss as an initial flow condition. A digitised 3D particle structure scanned and reconstructed by X-ray micro-tomography was used in the dissolution simulation. A quantitative assessment of the simulation results was made using as a reference experimental data and a theoretical calculation based on the shrinking spherical model with different flow velocity profiles near the particle. The comprehensive agreement demonstrates the coherence of the simulation method in reproducing the experimental behaviour and is seen as a step closer towards developing a computer software design aide to help with formulation development.