Study of particle rebound and deposition on fibre surface

ABSTRACT

Fibrous filters, which are the most commonly used means of particle filtration, are generally characterized by the air pressure drop and filtration efficiency. The nature of particle movement and interaction between the particle and fibre is of great importance for measuring the filtration efficiency of fibrous filters. Majority of previous studies investigated particle trajectory and deposition using the ideal trapping model, which assumed that particles will be trapped once contacted with a solid surface (fibre or deposited particle). This work investigates the dynamic performance of particle rebound and statistically analyses the deposition/accumulation of particles on a fibre surface. We use the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to calculate the flow field around a row of fibres. Then, we utilize a particle adherence and rebound criterion and simulate the particle trajectory and deposition using a self-developed solver in Fortran code. Effects of face velocity, particle diameter, and particle rebound characteristics on particle rebound and accumulation around one of the fibres are investigated. Additionally, the trajectories and accumulation of particles on the fibre surface are visually presented. Finally, the filtration efficiency of a single fibre is compared with published results. It is found that effects of particle rebound on the particle trajectory and deposition are significantly related to the face velocity and particle diameter. With considering the particle rebound, the filtration efficiency of a single fibre is obviously different from that of previous studies.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Fibrous filter
• particle deposition
• rebound
• filtration efficiency
• adherence criterion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Hui Li http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4404-8845

Shengnan Shen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3964-8475

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 2015CFB307]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant number 2042014kf0034]; and China Scholarship Council (CSC) [grant number 201606275005].