Affiliations: [a] School of Thermal Power and Environmental Engineering,
Shanghai University of Electric Power, Shanghai, China | [b] School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong
University, Shanghai, China
Abstract: This paper describes a strongly coupled calculation procedure for
the particle dynamics in electrostatic precipitators (ESP) subjected to the
applied magnetic field with the statistical particle size distribution taken
into account. The turbulent gas flow and the particle motion under external
forces are modeled by using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
code FLUENT. Numerical calculations for the gas flow are carried out by solving
the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence is modeled using
the k − ε turbulence model. An additional source term, which is
obtained by solving a coupled system of the electromagnetic field and charge
transport equations, is added to the gas flow equation to capture the effect of
electromagnetic field. Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is employed to achieve the
simulation of the particle phase. Different kinds of particles which follow
Rosin-Rammler distribution were simulated under different conditions, and the
influence of magnetic field density on the capture of fine particle was
investigated. In order to show the dust removal effect, the collection
efficiency and the escaped particle size distribution were discussed in case of
different applied magnetic fields. The particles trajectories inside the ESP
were also given under the effects of both aerodynamic and electromagnetic
forces. Numerical results indicate that the collection efficiency increases
with the increase of applied magnetic field, that the particles trajectory are
more visible to the direction of dust collection plate, and that the collection
efficiency varies smoothly when the applied magnetic field is up to a certain
value. Furthermore, the average diameter of escaping particles decreases and
the dispersion for dust particles in different size increases with applied
magnetic field increasing, and particle sizes is linearly decreasing with
magnetic field before the particle reaches a certain size.
