A numerical study of bend-induced particle deposition in and behind duct bends

This paper investigated the microparticle deposition and distribution due to the presence of duct bends by employing the Eulerian approach with Reynolds stress turbulent model and a Lagrangian trajectory method. The air velocity, particle velocity and particle deposition velocity were validated with available experimental data. Several particle deposition ratios were proposed to describe the particle accumulation due to bends. Particle deposition velocities in and behind bends were analyzed numerically. It is found that bend walls with surfaces of higher capture velocity tend to accumulate more contaminant particles as seen with an increased factor of 1.2 times on particle deposition velocity. Particle deposition reaches a maximum value near bend outlet, e.g. 15.2 times deposition ratio for particles of d(p) = 23 μm, and decay exponentially to a status of fully developed deposition in approximately 10D length. Compared to traditional consideration of sole deposition in bends, a new general concept of total deposition including that in bends and behind bends is proposed to better describe the particle deposition induced by bends since the enhancement deposition ratios behind bends compose 42–99% in the total ratios for particles of d(p) = 3–23 μm. Furthermore, models of fast power and exponential decay trend are demonstrated to uncover the relationship among enhancement factor of deposition velocity behind bend, dimensionless distance behind bends and particle Stokes number. The present study can contribute to the understanding and controlling of contaminant aerosol flow behavior in ducts, e.g. particle sampling, removal and associated epidemiologic study between particle and human health.