Large Eddy Simulation of Particle Re-suspension During a Footstep

Abstract

Re-suspension of particulate matter under human activity can have a significant impact on particle concentrations in indoor environments. The removal of surface-bound particulates as a person's foot contacts a substrate and the subsequent transport of such particulates through wake entrainment effects and through deposition is an important mechanism for particle dispersion. To study aspects of this event, we perform high-fidelity simulations of particle transport due to the heel-to-toe contact of a foot with a particle-laden carpet. For this purpose, an immersed boundary method is extended to account for particle transport, re-suspension, and deposition near the surface of the foot. Particle deposition is modeled as a combination of gravitational settling, Brownian diffusion, and convective impaction, while a dynamic re-suspension model is used to model particle re-suspension from the surfaces. We demonstrate the details of transient transport phenomena of re-suspended particles during a heel-to-toe foot ...