Premium
Model for Gas‐Liquid Flow through Wet Porous Medium
Author(s) -
Agranovski I. E.,
Braddock R. D.,
Kristensen N. P.,
Crozier S.,
Myojo T.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/1521-4125(200111)24:11<1151::aid-ceat1151>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - laminar flow , porous medium , filter (signal processing) , filtration (mathematics) , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , airflow , volumetric flow rate , porosity , particle (ecology) , air filter , chemistry , materials science , thermodynamics , physics , composite material , inlet , geology , mathematics , statistics , oceanography , geomorphology , computer science , computer vision
A method involving bubbling of air through a fibrous filter immersed in water has recently been investigated (Agranovski et al. [1]). Experimental results showed that the removal efficiency for ultra‐fine aerosols by such filters was greatly increased compared to dry filters. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging was used to examine the wet filter and to determine the nature of the gas flow inside the filter (Agranovski et al. [2]). It was found that tortuous preferential pathways (or flow tubes) develop within the filter through which the air flows and the distribution of air and water inside the porous medium has been investigated. The aim of this paper is to investigate the geometry of the pathways and to make estimates of the flow velocities and particle removal efficiency in such pathways. A mathematical model of the flow of air along the preferred pathways has been developed and verified experimentally. Even for the highest realistic gas velocity the flow field was essentially laminar (Re ≈ 250). We solved Laplace's equation for stream function to map trajectories of particles and gas molecules to investigate the possibility of their removal from the carrier.