Deposition of particles in liquid flows in horizontal straight channels

Abstract

A flow in a horizontal channel is an important method for the transport of materials, products and/or waste gases/liquids. The deposition of particles in a horizontal channel may clog the flow path. The purpose of this paper is to extend the use of a developed Eulerian deposition model to liquid flows in horizontal straight channels to predict the particle deposition rate. For a horizontal pipe, the deposition rates may differ greatly along a cross section, due to the influences of gravity and buoyancy. The current deposition model is first applied to air flows to enable a comparison with available experimental data. Then, the model is applied to liquid flows in horizontal straight pipes. The effects of gravity, buoyancy, water flow rates, wall roughness, particle size and temperature difference in the near-wall boundary layer on the deposition rate have been studied and explained. The results show that the deposition rates of particles increase with an increased flow rate. The gravity separation has a large influence on the deposition of large particle at high and low parts of the horizontal pipe in some flows. Moreover, both the wall roughness and thermophoresis have a significant influence on the deposition rate of small particles. In addition, the roughness also shows an important influence on the large particle deposition at the top of the investigated pipe, due to that a large value of roughness can make the deposition location somewhat far away from the wall, where a stronger turbophoresis exists. The intensity of the turbophoresis relative to the gravity separation before a particle is reaching the deposition location is important for the large particle deposition when the gravity separation play a negative role on the deposition rate.