One of the constraints to developing viable technologies for the cultivation of hydrobiological species is the creation of a culture environment that allows the maintenance of commercially viable production indices . As a result , several authors agree that the water quality in aquaculture will be determined by factors specific to the target species to be cultivated as well as engineering associated with the design of the aquacultural rearing vessel . This study examines and evaluates the hydraulic behavior of seawater in relation to changes in the geometric proportions in the design of D -ended tanks for pelagic species aquaculture in land-based systems. Based on the findings obtained, a prototype D -ended tank for marine fish aquaculture is proposed.
CFD was used to evaluate the hydraulics of t wo types of aquacultural rearing tanks: a circular central bottom single drain tank (Fig. 1) and a D-ended prototype tank with a central division (F ig. 2). S ix depth:diameter ratio and/or width combinations at a constant water volume of 8.4 m3 were studied, as well as their impact on the response variables of water velocity, water mixing processes, and hydraulic residence time of solid particles. The engineering factors and edge conditions considered in the CFD analysis were based on the domains’s spatial discretization using the Finite Element Method (MEF) .
In the hydraulic analysis of a given circular tank, n o significant changes in the pattern of water circulation were observed as the depth:diameter ratio increased (1:3, 1:5, and 1:10) (Fig. 1). A n analysis of different geometries of the D-ended hippodrome tank prototype, on the other hand, allowed inferring that at small diameters, a hydraulic is generated, facilitating the extraction of suspended solids.
Warm colors (Figs . 1 and Fig. 2) indicate high speeds approaching 60 cm * s-1 . Speeds in the D-ended tank ranged between 30 and 45 cm * s-1 , which is within the range suggested by various authors for self-cleaning purposes (Fig. 2).