Experimental Simulation of Oncomelania’s Flow Field and Its Application

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease mostly found in areas along Yangtze River of China.The spread of the disease is solely through a middle-agent named oncomelania so the spread of schistosomiasis by oncomelania can be controlled by properly designing water intakes which prevent oncomelania from entering the farming land or residential areas.In this paper,a successful design process is reported and a new oncomelania-free intake device is demonstrated in the laboratory.The design on the new intake is based on a sound research program in which an extensive experimental studies have been carried out to gain knowledge of oncomelania ecohydraulic behaviors and a detailed flow field information is obtained through computation fluid dynamics simulation.