Collection of Aerosol Particles by Filters Composed of Whisker-Coated Fibers

Abstract

The deposition of submicron aerosol particles in model fibrous filters consisting of composite fibers coated with coaxial porous permeable shells composed of thin whiskers directed perpendicularly to the fiber surface has been considered. The viscous drag of the composite fibers and the efficiency of the diffusion collection of nanosized (point) and submicron particles from a three-dimensional flow have been calculated taking into account the finite sizes of the latter particles at small Reynolds numbers and Peclet diffusion numbers Pe = 1–10⁶. Filter quality criterion γ, i.e., the ratio between the logarithmic penetration of the particles and the pressure drop across the filter, has been calculated as depending on the particle size and the parameters of the composite fibers. It has been shown that, when filtering aerosols of submicron particles, the γ value of the filters consisting of the composite fibers increases with Pe, markedly exceeds the γ values for point nanoparticles, and may be several times higher than the quality criterion of filters composed of fibers without porous shells.