Inertial capture of aerosol particles using liquid bridges in cross flow

Abstract

We investigate the inertial capture of aerosol particles, suspended in a laminar cross flow between parallel plates, by stationary cylindrical liquid bridges. We track the motion and fate of individual aerosol droplets (3–9 μm diameter) suspended in a flow moving across a single liquid bridge or two-bridge systems, using high-speed imaging under a microscope. First, we measure the capture efficiency by inertial impaction of an isolated liquid bridge collector as a function of the aerosol particles Stokes number and show that it agrees with the efficiency calculated for rigid particles moving in a potential flow past a solid cylinder. We then consider two-bridge systems, that is two parallel cylindrical collectors oriented perpendicular to the flow, but offset from each other. We investigate the effect that the upstream collector has on the effective capture efficiency of the downstream test collector, depending on the transverse offset and Stokes number. The offset is the relative displacement of the downstream collector normal to its axis and in the direction perpendicular to the freestream flow. For small values of the transverse offset, smaller than the radius of the collector, small (zero) effective efficiencies are measured for the test collector, due to a partial (complete) shielding effect by the upstream collector. The effective efficiency thus increases from zero with increasing transverse offset, above a threshold value for complete shielding. As the transverse offset increases further, effective efficiencies larger than the efficiency of an isolated bridge are measured for the test collector, showing enhanced capture due to the redistribution of particles moving past the upstream collector. The relative increase in the inertial capture efficiency is significant for Stokes numbers around (but below) unity, 0.45≲St≲0.9, with relative gains as large as approximately 50%. There is an optimum offset displaying maximum effective efficiency and larger offset values lead to a slight decrease in measured efficiencies. These results demonstrate the importance of the relative arrangement of individual collectors on the overall inertial capture efficiency of aerosol particles and suggest that an array of bridges in a slanted configuration (with optimal transverse offsets) could be used as a high-performance filtration system for aerosol particles.