Simulation of particle deposition in a channel with multi-vibrating elastic ribbons

Abstract

This paper presents a computational study on the flow field, particle trajectory and deposition in a rectangular channel which includes multi-vibrating elastic ribbons mounted on different places of the channel. The diameter of particles varies between 10 μm and 40 μm. Two different places of a vibrating ribbon and four different places of multi-vibrating ribbons are considered. To compare, a fixed ribbon is also considered. Fluid flow equations are solved numerically based on the finite element method. The trajectory of particles was obtained by solving the equation of particle motion that included the inertial, viscous drag and gravity forces. The fluid–structure interaction was considered using an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method. Detailed analysis of the fluid velocity field and fluid–structure interaction is carried out to investigate the effect of vibrating ribbons on particle deposition. The results were compared with the available experimental and numerical data, and the accuracy of approach was evaluated. Results show that behind the vibrating ribbon, multiple vortices of different sizes are formed, which causes changes in the velocity gradient and flow fluctuations of the upstream and increases the percentage of particle deposition in that area compared to a fixed ribbon. For one ribbon cases, an increase in deposition efficiency is observed when the vibrating ribbon is mounted on the upper wall, and for multi-vibrating ribbon cases, this increase is also observed, but the percentage of deposition is lower than single-ribbon cases. In addition, increasing the diameter of particles and decreasing the Young’s modulus increase the deposition percentage of particles.