Evaluation of biofilm framewrok (4)

Aquasim: Computer program for the identification and Simulation of Aquatic Systems

Resources
* Homepage
* manual

Purpose
To support environmental scientists in finding an «adequate» model of the system they are investigating. It allows its users to perform simulations using different models, to assess the identifiability and to estimate the values of model parameters (using measured data), and to estimate prediction uncertainty.

Versions
The latest version is 2.1a released in March 2001.

Distribution
* AQUASIM was developed mainly for internal use, but it is also available to commercial companies at a price of CHF 2000 (ca. US$ 1200) and to university institutes at a price of CHF 1000 (ca. US$ 600). This price includes binary versions of the program for one platform, a user manual and additional documentation. Technical support for program usage is not provided.
* Demo version for MS Windows is available.

Documentation
* Complete manual is available for download
* Mailing list
* AQUASIM Training Courses

About
* Developed by the computer and systems sciences department of Swiss Federal Institute for Envronmental Science and Technology (EAWAG).
* Written in C++.

Program Intro
* Allow users to define the spatial configuration of the system to be investigated as a set of compartments which can be connected to each other by links. The available compartment types include mixed reactors, biofilm reactors (consisting of a biofilm and a bulk fluid phase), advective-diffusive reactors (plug flow reactors with or without dispersion), saturated soil columns (with sorption and pore volume exchange), river sections (describing water flow and substance transport and transformation in open channels) and lakes (describing stratification and substance transport and transformation in the water column of the lake and in adjacent sediment layers).
* Different links: (1) Advective links represent water flow and advective substance transport between compartments, including bifurcations and junctions. (2) Diffusive links represent boundary layers or membranes, which can be penetrated selectively by certain substances.
* User can specify any set of state variables and transformation processes to be active within the compartments.
* For the model as defined by the user, the program is able to perform simulations, sensitivity analyses and parameter estimations using measured data.
* Calculated results can be plotted to the screen (window interface version only), written to a Post-Script file for transfer to a printer, or written to a text file for external post-processing