|
POLYRED is an open-ended package for the computer-aided analysis and design of polymerization systems under development at the University of Wisconsin Polymerization Reaction Engineering Laboratory (UWPREL). It is a user-friendly package with a highly modular structure which aims to be a comprehensive simulation environment for process analysis and design. POLYRED allows for performing dynamic simulation, stability analysis, steady-state continuation, and parameter estimation, on a user-defined flowsheet. Most of the simulation programs in POLYRED are generated by linking a numerical analysis driver with one or more process modules. Drivers implement specific numerical algorithms for tasks such as integration, stability analysis, parameter estimation, optimization, etc., and are distinct from process modules (or models) which describe a particular polymerization kinetics and reactor or process unit.
POLYRED's multidriver environment allows the user to specify a numerical task to be performed on a flowsheet which has been defined. Such an environment is aimed to provide the user with numerical tools for comprehensive analysis of the flowsheet under investigation. The set of routines designed to perform one specific numerical task are further referenced to as a driver. They include tasks such as dynamic simulation, parameter estimation, steady state simulation, and continuation and stability analysis.
On the other side, a set of routines describing a particular polymerization kinetics and process unit make up a module. Some examples of module-names include CFR-TANK, for free-radical copolymerization in a tank reactor, and CPC-TANK, for polycondensation with A-B monomers in tank reactors.
You can create a flowsheet description in POLYRED by simply clicking on one of the icons of the Palette window and "dragging" the corresponding module to the Main program window. The Tools menu includes a Palette option, which you can use to bring back the Palette window after it's been closed.
POLYRED's main and palette windows
In the Palette window, icons or modules are organized based on the polymerization chemistry they belong to. The last set of icons corresond to stand-alone modules (non-flowsheetable), which previously were available as individual programs but are now part of the simulation environment.
Stream units, represented by arrows in the Palette window, should be used only to connect process units like tanks, mixers, etc. There is no need to attach a stream unit to a tank reactor, for example, when this is the only module in a flowsheet.
POLYRED uses a standardized driver-module interface structure to link the software for the modules with a specific driver. Hence, one set of module subroutines works with all drivers designed for that category (lumped or distributed) with a minimal amount of additional Fortran code.
POLYRED also includes some models that perform a specific analysis. This group, called Stand-Alone Models, currently includes Ziegler-Natta temperature stability model PARTSTAB, as well as utility modules for calculations such as vapor-liquid equilibrium, VLEQUIL, copolymer composition, CSL, gas-liquid mass transfer, GLTRANS and molecular weight distributions, MWD.
In addition to the open-ended structure and features described above, the POLYRED package includes the following features:
Read about POLYRED version 5.2's capabilities and operating system information.
View some example simulations done in POLYRED.
[ UWPREL Home ] [ POLYRED Main Menu ] [ POLYRED Info ] [ POLYRED Components ] [ POLYRED News ] [ POLYRED Manual ] [ POLYRED Users ]