COMPARISON OF NUMERICAL SCHEMES FOR SOLVING A SPHERICAL-PARTICLE DIFFUSION EQUATION

A new robust iterative numerical scheme was developed for a nonlinear diffusive model which described sorption dynamics in spherical particle suspensions. The numerical scheme had been applied to finite difference and finite element models which showed rapid convergence and stability under wide ranges of partition coefficients. Comparisons were made with explicit finite difference and orthogonal collocation methods. The diffusive model assumes complete mixing in the bulk aqueous solution and considers intraaggregate transport within the suspended particles. The effect of particle size distribution of suspensions was also included in the model. Sorption was described using both linear and nonlinear isotherms. This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. Published in 1990 by the American Geophysical Union.