| Summary: | In this work, we address the mechanical response of the flat sheet polymeric water treatment membranes under the assumed operational loading conditions. Firstly, we perform quasi-static analyses of the membranes under normal pressure loads, which is the condition that resembles the actual loading for flat sheet membranes in the submerged membrane bioreactors. Then, the long-term deformation of the membranes is studied under the assumed filtration durations for the same loading conditions by utilizing the viscoelastic material models. The quasi-static and viscoelastic membrane simulations are performed by a commercial finite element code ANSYS. Finally, the mechanical fatigue life predictions are carried out based on the stress distributions from the quasi-static analyses and the long-term effects from the viscoelastic analyses.
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