Computational fluid dynamics simulation of aerosol transport and deposition

Abstract

In this article computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of aerosol transport and deposition, i.e. the transport and deposition of particles in an aerosol, is reviewed. The review gives a brief account of the basics of aerosol mechanics, followed by a description of the general CFD approach for flow field simulation, turbulence modeling, wall treatments and simulation of particle motion and deposition. Then examples from the literature are presented, including CFD simulation of particle deposition in human respiratory tract and particle deposition in aerosol devices. CFD simulation of particle transport and deposition may provide information that is difficult to obtain through physical experiments, and it may help reduce the number of experiments needed for device design. Due to the difficulty of describing turbulent flow and particle-eddy interaction, turbulent dispersion of particles remains one of the greatest challenges for CFD simulation. However, it is possible to take a balanced approach toward quantitative description of aerosol dispersion using CFD simulation in conjunction with empirical relations.

Keywords

computational fluid dynamics (CFD) / aerosol / transport / deposition

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