Chemical Engineering Science, Vol.55, No.3, 685-698, 2000
Creeping flow over spherical permeable aggregates
Creeping Row past an isolated, spherical and permeable aggregate has been studied, adopting the Stokes equation to model the fluid external to the aggregate and the Brinkman equation for the internal Row. The aggregate is assumed to have a fractal structure with radially varying solid fraction and permeability. The results have been summarised in terms of three parameters: drag coefficient Omega, fluid collection efficiency eta and settling factor Z. Such quantities depend only on the dimensionless aggregate size, R/a, on fractal dimension and on structure factor. When the fractal dimension of the aggregate is larger than 2, it is not necessary to consider its non-homogeneous structure and the radial change of local properties. Accurate results can be obtained by modelling the particle as homogenous, with a void constant fraction; equal to the surface value, and evaluating Omega and eta according to the analytical expressions valid for aggregates with uniform permeability.
Keywords:CLUSTER AGGREGATION;FRACTAL DIMENSIONS;FLUID STRESSES;POROUS-MEDIA;PARTICLES;SHEAR;SIMULATIONS;COAGULATION;KINETICS;GEOMETRY