Particle Transport and Deposition in a Duct Flow with a Rectangular Obstruction

Abstract

The airflow field and particle trajectory and deposition in a duct with a rectangular obstruction were studied. The governing conservation equations of mass and momentum were discretized using a finite volume method, and the corresponding velocity vector and pressure fields were evaluated. The particle trajectories were evaluated by solving the Lagrangian equation of motion that included the drag, Saffman's lift, and gravity forces. Effects of different forces as well as the blockage and the obstruction aspect ratios on particle trajectory and deposition were analyzed for a Reynolds number of 200. The simulation results showed that with the increase of Stokes number, particle deposition efficiency on the front side of the obstruction increased and also the presence of the gravitational force in the span-wise direction caused the particles to be deposited on the channel lower wall. The presence of gravity in the stream-wise direction increased the deposition efficiency and in the counter-stream-wise direction decreased the deposition efficiency. Changing the obstruction aspect ratio had no noticeable effect on the deposition but increasing the blockage ratio increased the deposition efficiency. The presence of a lift force had different effects for different blockage ratios and Stokes numbers. But the lift force generally increased the deposition rate, especially at large Stokes numbers and large blockage ratios.