Efficiency of inertial trapping of dust by water drops

Abstract

Dispersed water is extensively used to trap dust. In underground workings recourse is often had to water curtains as the only means for dust suppression. In wet dust-trapping devices the water is atomized either during introduction into the device, or in the latter itself by a current of air. In all these cases one is dealing with inertial capture of dust by nonuniformly moving obstacles (drops). A number of theoretical and experimental reports have been devoted to the coefficient of inertial capture of dust by individual stationary barriers. Certain aspects of the problem of dust capture by a moving drop and by a combination of drops moving in a current have been investigated, the authors of the reports concerned making specific assumptions. We have determined the capture coefficient of dust by individual nonuniformly moving drops, and the efficiency of dust trapping by water curtains under the above conditions.