Simulation of particle fouling characteristics with improved modeling on two different tubes

Abstract The fouling characteristics of micron-scale magnesium oxide particles on the inside wall of the circular tube and converging-diverging tube are studied in this paper. An improved method for modeling particles in tubes was developed based on the Eulerian method. The particle deposition mechanism of the model includes: diffusion deposition, turbulent deposition, thermophoretic deposition, and gravity deposition. The model was verified by comparison with experimental results from the literature. The effects of particle concentration and flow velocity were studied for two different tubes. The simulation results show that the change rules of the fouling resistance of the two tubes were similar both the asymptotic value of fouling resistance increases with the increase of the concentration, and decreases with the increase of the inlet velocity. By comparing the fouling resistance of the two tubes, it was found that the values of asymptotic fouling resistance of the converging-diverging tube were smaller than that of the circular tube at different concentrations and velocities.