Modelling, testing and optimization of a passive solar updraft aeration system for aquaculture in the developing worl

Pond aquaculture is major source of food security and income in the Asia-Pacific region. Over 70% of ponds are operated by smallholder farmers who do not have access to aeration technology for proper management of dissolved oxygen levels. The Solar Updraft Aeration (SUpA) system was developed to provide a low-cost, sustainable alternative to conventional aeration in resource-constrained environments. This thesis presents a framework for identifying a suitable design of the SUpA system for large-scale field testing. A comprehensive model was developed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and validated in the bench-scale. The model was used to conduct a broad search of the design space of each configuration. The inverted prism configuration was selected for further optimization based on results from CFD and preliminary field tests. The optimized geometry showed an improvement of 81% over a reference geometry based on previous designs and was selected for testing in the future.