A numerical study on micron particle deposition of variable curvature surfaces using IBM-thermal ISLBM

A unified algorithm was developed to numerically investigate the effects of surface curvature on particle deposition and heat exchange performance in turbulent flow. The hybrid approach integrates the interpolation-supplemented thermal lattice Boltzmann method for solving the thermal fluid field on a non-uniform mesh, the immersed boundary method for handling fluid–cylinder interface deformation, and the discrete phase model for determining particle dynamic behavior. The capabilities of the proposed model for predicting deposition characteristics were validated. Systematic simulations were conducted by varying the inlet velocity from 3 to 7 m·s^–1 and the Stokes number from 0.023 to 0.061 at variable curvature surfaces (l_rh = 0.6–1.4). As l_rh increased from 0.6 to 1.4, the deposition layer area and average Nusselt number decreased by 38.66 % and 17.1 %, respectively. Elevating l_rh is conducive to reducing deposition with an inconspicuous loss in heat exchanger efficiency. The proportion of deposited particles with high kinetic energy and low impact angle increased during the late deposition period. As the inlet velocity increased, the low l_rh surface exhibited higher deposition augmentation and stronger heat transfer enhancement. Elevating l_rh can significantly alleviate the deposition of small and medium St_p particles while exerting inconspicuous effects on larger St_p particles.