Material Flows

The group «material flows in the anthroposphere» focuses on the development and application of models and computer programs (SIMBOX) to simulate anthropogenic flows.

The mains topics are

• Development and application of concepts and models to identify and control the sources of undesirable substance flows from the anthroposphere to the environmental compartments, mainly water.
  The aim is the early recognition of possible anthropogenic influences as well as the assessment of possible measures.
  A special focus is the development of models for simulating substance flows characterised by long residence times in the anthroposphere.

• Linking models for anthroposphere substance flows to models for the surface water.

The group is engaged in common modelling projects with other departments at Eawag as well as with foreign institutes and universities. The group also teaches at ETH Zurich.

Contact persons: Hans-Peter Bader, Ruth Scheidegger

MMFA Framework

Handbook and manual of mathematical material flow analysis (MMFA). MMFA allows to describe and simulate anthropogenic flows with mathematical models in a comprehensive way.

Order handbook here

Projects

• Assessment of water quality problems using substance flow models for the Tha Chin Catchment area in Thailand (Ruth Scheidegger)

• Realistic exposition scenarios of surface waters. (collaboration with UCHEM, Hans-Peter Bader)

• Stock dynamics of heavy metals in concrete with regard to emissions in receiving waters (collaboration with ETH, Hans-Peter Bader)

• Modelling of urban water household in developing countries (collaboration with university of Linköping, Schweden, Ruth Scheidegger)