Inertial effects on thermophoretic transport of small particles to walls with streamwise curvature—I. Theory

Abstract

We study the combined action of particle inertia and thermophoresis in boundary layer aerosol flows over surfaces with streamwise curvature, in the limit of small particle Stokes number, Stk, when the interaction between these two transport mechanisms is expected to be most significant. The governing dimensionless parameter controlling inertial effects is found to be Stk • Re x 1 2 , which can be large enough to cause dramatic changes in deposition rates even when Stk ⪡ 1, due to the largeness of the streamwise Reynolds number, Re x in boundary layer flows. Predictions are presented for concave/convex surfaces either ‘colder’ or ‘hotter’ than the mainstream.