Computational fluid dynamics simulations of aerosol behavior in a high-speed (Heubach) rotating drum dustiness tester--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Chen, H., Jog, M. A., & Turkevich, L. A. (2023). Computational fluid dynamics simulations of aerosol behavior in a high-speed (Heubach) rotating drum dustiness tester. Particuology, 72, 68-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2022.02.010

Computational fluid dynamics simulations of aerosol behavior in a high-speed (Heubach) rotating drum dustiness tester

Hongyu Chen ^a, Milind A. Jog ^a, Leonid A. Turkevich ^b *

a Thermal-Fluids and Thermal Processing Lab, Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072, USA
b Division of Field Studies and Engineering (DFSE), National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Alice Hamilton Laboratory, 1090 Tusculum Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA

10.1016/j.partic.2022.02.010

Volume 72, January 2023, Pages 68-80

Received 13 November 2021, Revised 8 February 2022, Accepted 21 February 2022, Available online 7 May 2022, Version of Record 7 May 2022.

E-mail: LLT0@cdc.gov

Highlights

• Computational fluid dynamics simulations are used to characterize Heubach dustiness drum.

• Efficiency of drum (“instrument function”) depends on orientation of internal vanes.

• 90°-oriented vanes generate strong swirl that destabilizes the axial jet.

• A destabilized axial jet (90° vane orientation) efficiently entrains small (d < 1 μm) dust particles.

Abstract

Potential exposure from hazardous dust may be assessed by evaluating the dustiness of the powders being handled. Dustiness is the tendency of a powder to aerosolize with a given input of energy. Previously we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to numerically investigate the flow inside the European Standard (EN15051) rotating drum dustiness tester during its operation. The present work extends those CFD studies to the widely used Heubach rotating drum. Air flow characteristics are investigated within the Abe-Kondoh-Nagano k-epsilon turbulence model; the aerosol is incorporated via a Euler-Lagrangian multiphase approach. The air flow inside these drums consists of a well-defined axial jet penetrating relatively quiescent air. The spreading of the Heubach jet results in a fraction of the jet recirculating as back-flow along the drum walls; at high rotation rates, the axial jet becomes unstable. This flow behavior qualitatively differs from the stable EN15051 flow pattern. The aerodynamic instability promotes efficient mixing within the Heubach drum, resulting in higher particle capture efficiencies for particle sizes d < 80 μm.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Rotating drum; Dustiness; Euler-Lagrangian multiphase; AKN k-epsilon turbulence

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