Effect of particle and fiber size on the morphology of deposits in fibrous filters

The capture of aerosol particles during their production and purification of air at workplace and atmospheric environment require an efficient separation method of particulate matter from the carrier gas. Many papers have been published recently on the deposition of particles on fibrous collectors, often using the classical continuum approach to describe the process. However, the approach is not convenient for studying the influence of particle deposition on filter performance (filtration efficiency and pressure drop) when one has to introduce nonsteady‐state boundary conditions. For the purpose of this work, the lattice Boltzmann model describes fluid dynamics, while the solid particle motion is modeled by the Brownian dynamics. The aim of this study is to model the influence of single particle loading (amount and morphology – e.g., porosity and fractal dimension) on its performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Filtration characteristics of a binary multi-layer granular bed filter based on CFD-DEM coupling simulation

The coupled CFD-DEM method with the JKR (Johnson-Kendall-Roberts) model for describing the contact adhesion of dust to filter particles (FPs) is used to simulate the distribution pattern of dust particle deposition in the granular bed filter (GBF) with multi-layer media. The minimum inlet flow velocity must meet the requirement that the contact probability between dust and FPs is in the high contact probability region. The air flow forms vortices on the leeward side of the FPs and changes abruptly at the intersection of different particle size FPs layers. Dust particles form large deposits at the intersection of the first and second layers and the different particle size filter layers. Dual element multilayer GBF can further optimize the bed structure by interlacing filter layers with different particle sizes. Compared with single particle size multi-layer GBF, the bed pressure drop is reduced by 40.24%–50.65% and the dust removal efficiency is increased by 21.93%–55.09%.     

The theoretical study of the efficiency of diffusion deposition of nanoaerosols in the extended range of the Peclet numbers

The efficiencies of the diffusion deposition of nanoaerosols for a single fiber for the models of aerosol filter and wire mesh screen are studied numerically in the extended range of the Peclet number Pe. The rectangular periodic cell model for fluid flow and convective-diffusive transport of small aerosol particles is used. Most of the previous theoretical and experimental studies of single fiber diffusion deposition efficiency were for the case of Pe > 1. The array with uniform square or chess grid of fibers and of a row of circular cylindrical fibers are considered as the filter and wire mesh screen models. The flow and particles transport equations are solved numerically using the Boundary Element Method.The obtained numerical data are used to derive the approximate formulas for the deposition efficiency in the entire range of the Peclet number for the various porosities of the filter medium or distances between fibers in a wire mesh screen. The derived dependencies take into account nonlinearity of the deposition efficiency at the low Peclet numbers. The obtained analytical dependencies compare well with the numerical and experimental data.     

Modelling the flow of power law fluids in a packed bed using a volume-averaged equation of motion

The development of a theoretical model for the prediction of velocity and pressure drop for the flow of a viscous power law fluid through a bed packed with uniform spherical particles is presented. The model is developed by volume averaging the equation of motion. A porous microstructure model based on a cell model is used. Numerical solution of the resulting equation is effected using a penalty Galerkin finite element method. Experimental pressure drop values for dilute solutions of carboxymethylcellulose flowing in narrow tubes packed with uniformly sized spherical particles are compared to theoretical predictions over a range of operating conditions. Overall agreement between experimental and theoretical values is within 15%. The extra pressure drop due to the presence of the wall is incorporated directly into the model through the application of the no-slip boundary condition at the container wall. The extra pressure drop reaches a maximum of about 10% of the bed pressure drop without wall effect. The wall effect increases as the ratio of tube diameter to particle diameter decreases, as the Reynolds number decreases and as the power law index increases.     

Experimental study on the pressure drop and the entry length of the gas-solid suspension flow in a circular tube

This paper presents an experimental study on the flow characteristics of a dilute gas-solid suspension medium in a circular tube, wherein the inlet entry length and the frictional pressure drop are measured systematically. In particular, the effects of particle size on the frictional pressure-drop are examined in some detail. The spherical copper particles, whose average diameter ranges from about 45 to 170 μm, are used for the dispersed medium and the ranges of gas Reynolds number and solid loading ratio are up to 50,000 and 5 respectively. The experimental results show that the entry lengths are feasible to be correlated briefly to the apparent Reynolds number of suspension flow and also that the reduction of the frictional pressure drop is observed at the lower loading ratio for the smallest size particles.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THREE DIMENSIONAL GAS-PARTICLE FLOW IN A SPIRAL CYCLONE

The three-dimension gas-particle flow in a spiral cyclone is simulated numerically in this paper. The gas flow field was obtained by solving the three-dimension Navier-Stokes equations with Reynolds Stress Model (RSM). It is shown that there are two regions in the cyclone, the steadily tangential flow in the spiral channel and the combined vortex flow in the centre. Numerical results for particles trajectories show that the initial position of the particle at the inlet plane substantially affects its trajectory in the cyclone. The particle collection efficiency curves at different inlet velocities were obtained and the effects of inlet flow rate on the performance of the spiral cyclone were presented. Numerical results also show that the increase of flow rate leads to the increase of particles collection efficiency, but the pressure drop increases sharply.     

Effects of vortex pairing on particle dispersion in turbulent shear flows

Particle dispersion in large-scale dominated turbulent shear flow is investigated numerically with special emphasis on the effects of the vortex-pairing phenomenon. The particle dispersion is visualized numerically by following the particle trajectories in a flow consisting of large vortices which are undergoing pairing interaction. The flow field is generated by a discrete vortex method. Important global and local fiow quantities from the numerical simulation compare reasonably well with experimental measurements.

For both cases of point sources with continuous particle release and an initially distributed line source, the particle dispersion results demonstrate that the extent of particle dispersion depends strongly on the Stokes number, the ratio of the particle aerodynamic response time to the characteristic time of the vortex-pairing flow field. Particles with relatively small Stokes numbers disperse laterally at approximately the saine rate as that of the fluid particles and particles with large Stokes numbers disperse much less than the fluid particles. Particles with intermediate Stokes numbers (0.5-5) may be dispersed laterally farther than the fiuid particles and may actually be flung out of the vortex structures. Due to the strong particie entrainment power, the flow during the vortex-pairing process seems to produce higher particle lateral dispersion than the pre-pairing and post-pairing flows.     

Experimental and numerical study of a gas cyclone with a central filter

This paper studies a novel gas cyclone with a cylindrical filter face installed in the center from the vortex finder to the bottom hopper. The experimental results show that this composite cyclone has a higher collection efficiency and a lower pressure drop than the original cyclone. The mechanisms for the improvement are analyzed by both physical experiments and numerical simulations. By measuring dust samples collected at different places it is revealed that the center filter can prevent fine particles from entering the inner vortex and escaping, which accounts for the increase of the collection efficiency. In addition, the flow field of the composite cyclone is simulated by computational fluid dynamics and compared with that of the original cyclone. The analysis shows that with the filter layer installed, the swirling flow disappears in the vortex finder, which decreases the kinetic energy dissipation and hence lowers the pressure drop.     

Formation of particle jetting in a cylindrical shock tube

A dense, solid particle flow is numerically studied at a mesoscale level for a cylindrical shock tube problem. The shock tube consists of a central high pressure gas driver section and an annular solid powder bed with air in void regions as a driven section with its far end adjacent to ambient air. Simulations are conducted to explore the fundamental phenomena, causing clustering of particles and formation of coherent particle jet structures in such a dense solid flow. The influence of a range of parameters is investigated, including driver pressure, particle morphology, particle distribution and powder bed configuration. The results indicate that the physical mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is twofold: the driver gas jet flow induced by the shock wave as it passes through the initial gaps between the particles in the innermost layer of the powder bed, and the chaining of solid particles by inelastic collision. The particle jet forming time is determined as the time when the motion of the outermost particle layer of the powder bed is first detected. The maximum number of particle jets is bounded by the total number of particles in the innermost layer of the powder bed. The number of particle jets is mainly a function of the number of particles in the innermost layer and the mass ratio of the powder bed to the gas in the driver section, or the ratio of powder bed mass (in dimensionless form) to the pressure ratio between the driver and driven sections.     

The flow of closely fitting particles in tapered tubes

The flow of rigid spheres, truncated cones and elastic incompressible spheres in tapered tubes is investigated assuming that the Reynolds equation is valid in the fluid and the linear theory of elasticity is applicable in the solid. It is shown that leading terms in the asymptotic expansion of pressure drop in terms of minimum fluid film thickness for neutrally buoyant rigid spheres and truncated cones are of higher order of magnitude compared to the corresponding terms for the flow of these particles in circular cylindrical tubes. The effect of taper angle on pressure drop is reduced in the case of soft elastic particles because of particle deformations and significant velocities at the particle surface.     

Fluid flow simulation in a random elliptical porous medium by using the lattice Boltzmann method

A fluid flow through an isotropic porous medium with randomly arranged elliptical particles is simulated by the lattice Boltzmann method. The dimensionless pressure drop and the dimensionless permeability are evaluated as functions of the Reynolds number. The effect of the aspect ratio of the major to minor semi-axis of the ellipse on the dimensionless permeability is considered for different values of porosity. The pressure drop is thoroughly investigated as a function of fluid viscosity for different values of the aspect ratio and porosity. The influence of various parameters of the problem on the mean tortuosity of the medium is considered.     

Modeling the hydrodynamics of cocurrent gas–solid downers according to energy-minimization multi-scale theory

Cocurrent gas–solid downer reactors have many applications in industry because they possess the technological advantages of a lower pressure drop, shorter residence time, and less solid backmixing when compared with traditional circulating fluidized bed risers. By introducing the concept of particle clusters explicitly, a one-dimensional model with consideration of the interphase interactions between the fluid and particles at both microscale and mesoscale is formulated for concurrent downward gas–solid flow according to energy-minimization multi-scale (EMMS) theory. A unified stability condition is proposed for the differently developed sections of gas–solid flow according to the principle of the compromise in competition between dominant mechanisms. By optimizing the number density of particle clusters with respect to the stability condition, the formulated model can be numerically solved without introducing cluster-specific empirical correlations. The EMMS-based model predicts well the axial hydrodynamics of cocurrent gas–solid downers and is expected to have a wider range of applications than the existing cluster-based models.     

Experimental study on filtration performance of the moving bed granular filter with axial flow

The filtration performance of the moving bed granular filter with axial flow (MBGF-AF) is investigated through a large cold experiment. The effect of different operation parameters on the filtration performance (collection efficiency, pressure drop) of the axial-flow moving bed filter is investigated in combination with the dust deposition effect and the mechanism of trapping dust by the capturing particles. The results show that the collection efficiency of MBGF-AF is enhanced by decreasing the superficial gas velocity, increasing the inlet dust concentration properly, or decreasing the moving velocity of the capturing particles. A model covering the above operation parameters is established to calculate the collection efficiency of the moving bed granular filter. It is used in a wide range of operating parameters for the MBGFs.     

Investigation of trajectories of inviscid fluid particles in two-dimensional rotating boxes

The particle trajectories of inviscid fluid flow within two-dimensional rotating (elliptic, triangular, and square) boxes are numerically investigated. The source panel method is employed to represent the instantaneous potential interior flow field, and the Runge–Kutta method is used to track the fluid particles. The analytic solutions for the fluid trajectories for the elliptic box are used to verify the numerical accuracy of the method. The numerical error can be reduced to the level of the round-off error if the panels are properly configured and an appropriate number of panels is used. The stagnation of the particles at the corners of the triangular box is successfully predicted with this method. The corner of the square box is found to be a singularity. A logarithmic complex potential is proposed to account for the singularity, using which the stagnation of the particles at the corner in the square box is also captured. The natural frequency of the particles in the rotating elliptic box is constant throughout the flow domain, and the fluid trajectories are epitrochoidal curves. In the triangular box and the square box, the natural frequency strongly depends on the particle position, and the particle trajectories are similar to epitrochoidal curves. In general, the trajectory patterns depend only on the box rotating frequency and the natural frequency of the fluid particle motion.      

颗粒在黏弹性流体扩张和收缩流中沉降的格子Boltzmann模拟分析

对于Oldroyd-B型黏弹性流体,本文应用格子Boltzmann方法(LBM),实现了流体在二维1:3扩张流道及3:1收缩流道中流动的数值模拟,获得了黏弹性流体在扩张和收缩流道中的流场分布．结合颗粒的受力和运动规则,基于点源颗粒模型,数值分析了颗粒在扩张流和收缩流中的沉降过程和特征,讨论了颗粒相对质量和起始位置以及雷诺数Re和威森伯格数Wi对颗粒沉降特征的影响．结果表明,颗粒相对质量和起始位置以及Re对颗粒沉降轨迹和落点影响较大,而Wi的影响则较小．     

Hydrodynamic and thermal fields analysis in gas-solid two-phase flow

The present work aims to investigate numerically the flowfield and heat transfer process in gas-solid suspension in a vertical pneumatic conveying pipe. The Eulerian-Lagrangian model is used to simulate the flow of the two-phases. The gas phase is simulated based on Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) with low Reynolds number k-ε model, while particle tracking procedure is used for the solid phase. An anisotropic model is used to calculate the Reynolds stresses and the turbulent Prandtl number is calculated as a function of the turbulent viscosity. The model takes into account the lift and drag forces and the effect of particle rotation as well as the particles dispersion by turbulence effect. The effects of inter-particles collisions and turbulence modulation by the solid particles, i.e. four-way coupling, are also included in the model. Comparisons between different models for turbulence modulation with experimental data are carried out to select the best model. The model is validated against published experimental data for velocities of the two phases, turbulence intensity, solids concentration, pressure drop, heat transfer rates and Nusselt number distribution. The comparisons indicate that the present model is able to predict the complex interaction between the two phases in non-isothermal gas-solid flow in the tested range. The results indicate that the particle-particle collision, turbulence dispersion and lift force play a key role in the concentration distribution. In addition, the heat transfer rate increases as the mass loading ratio increases and Nusselt number increases as the pipe diameter increases.     

Method of fundamental solutions for partial‐slip fibrous filtration flows

In this study a Stokeslet‐based method of fundamental solutions (MFS) for two‐dimensional low Reynolds number partial‐slip flows has been developed. First, the flow past an infinitely long cylinder is selected as a benchmark. The numerical accuracy is investigated in terms of the location and the number of the Stokeslets. The benchmark study shows that the numerical accuracy increases when the Stokeslets are submerged deeper beneath the cylinder surface, as long as the formed linear system remains numerically solvable. The maximum submergence depth increases with the decrease in the number of Stokeslets. As a result, the numerical accuracy does not deteriorate with the dramatic decrease in the number of Stokeslets. A relatively small number of Stokeslets with a substantial submergence depth is thus chosen for modeling fibrous filtration flows. The developed methodology is further examined by application to Taylor–Couette flows. A good agreement between the numerical and analytical results is observed for no‐slip and partial‐slip boundary conditions. Next, the flow about a representative set of infinitely long cylindrical fibers confined between two planar walls is considered to represent the fibrous filter flow. The obtained flowfield and pressure drop agree very well with the experimental data for this setup of fibers. The developed MFS with submerged Stokeslets is then applied to partial‐slip flows about fibers to investigate the slip effect at fiber–fluid interface on the pressure drop. The numerical results compare qualitatively with the analytical solution available for the limit case of infinite number of fibers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetic filtration of an iron oxide aerosol by means of magnetizable grates

The cleaning of gases with low concentrations of small ferromagnetic or paramagnetic particles is a difficult task for conventional filtration. A new alternative procedure, magnetic filtration, is used in this work. Iron oxide aerosol was generated by elutriation of iron oxide particles from a fluidized bed consisting of a mixture of Geldart-C iron oxide powder and large spherical Geldart-B sand particles. The aerosol was filtered by means of a magnetic filter which consisted of one, two or three iron grates staggered to each other. The experimental installation contained also an isokinetic sampling system and a Microtrac SRA 150 Particle Analyser. A theoretical expression for filtration efficiency was deduced from a previous model taking into account the different forces acting on the iron oxide particles. Experimental filtration efficiency matches quite well calculated theoretical efficiency. It was found that an increase in particle size, in thee number of grates or in the applied magnetic field produced higher filtration efficiencies up to 100% in some cases. In all filtration experiments pressure drop through the magnetic filter was very small.     

Dynamics of particles floating on liquid flowing in a semicircular open channel

The dynamic characteristics of surface-floating particles in liquids flowing in a two-dimensional, semicircular open channel is studied experimentally. For high visibility in the experiments, relatively large particles are employed whose particle-liquid density ratio is either equal to or less than unity. Particles of different size and geometry are tested in a water-glycerin mixture. A video camera traces the pathline of each particle from which the velocity and direction of particle motion are evaluated. Liquid velocity distribution is determined by hot-film anemometry. A modified dynamics (Basset-Boussinesq-Oseen) equation is derived and numerically solved by means of a finite-difference technique to determine fluid velocity. A new dimensionless parameter is disclosed which is pertinent to both particle geometry and fluid flow conditions. It correlates particle trajectory and velocity, trajectory dispersion and fluid-particle velocity ratio.Visiting Scholar on leave from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Fukuyama University, Fukujama, Japan