Measurement and modeling the suction force on ellipsoidal particles

Abstract

The lack of suction force models for non-spherical particles represents a research gap, although non-spherical particles in a suction flow are encountered in numerous applications. The present work demonstrates the need to develop dedicated suction force models because previous approaches did not yield clear results. This study used a custom-made suction force measurement device to measure the suction force on ellipsoidal particles. A preliminary suction force model is proposed based on dimensional analysis and the modified Murphy theorem. The model considers the vacuum pressure (P), fluid density (ρg), fluid viscosity (μg), long axis length of the particle (Lp), distance between the particle center and the suction hole (x), incident angle (θo), particle equivalent diameter (de), and suction hole diameter (D). The model validation shows high prediction accuracy within ±10% deviation, and the application scope is 0.5 ≤ x/Lp ≤ 0.7, 0 ≤ θo ≤ 28, 0.7 ≤ de/Lp ≤ 0.9, 0.4 ≤ D/Lp ≤ 0.6, and 3.36 × 104 ≤ LpP0.5ρg0.5/μg ≤ 5.13 × 104. Moreover, the suction force does not increase with an increase in the particle's windward area. A piecewise function is constructed to consider the relationship between suction force and θo based on experimental data and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations.