CFD Simulations of Aerosol Particles Deposition in a Venturi Meter Used in Smoke Sampling Devices

Smoke sampling devices are used in several fields to study dynamics of smoke aerosols. An important criterion in designing smoke sampling devices is that flow paths leading to where the sample is characterized are constructed such that deposition of aerosol particles along the paths is minimized. Sampling devices often include a Venturi flow meter installed downstream of the smoke source, which may significantly alter the composition of the aerosol reaching the sample analyzer. The current work employs Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model particle deposition within the flow meter and to examine the effects of different design parameters. This study focuses on particles with sizes ranging from 0.01 to 100 microns, for which three main mechanisms for deposition can be identified: inertial impaction, gravitational sedimentation, and Brownian diffusion. It has been shown that inertial deposition is negligible for ultrafine particles (5–560 nm) and it becomes noticeable for particles in the micron size range. Also, deposition fractions increase with increasing particle sizes. Moreover, inertial particle deposition increases with increasing volume flow rates.