Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

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Nuclear Engineering and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nucengdes

CFD simulation of dust particle removal efciency of a venturi scrubber in CFX

Ali Majid , Yan Changqi, Sun Zhongning, Wang Jianjun, Gu Haifeng
College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China

h i g h l i g h t s






Simulation of dust particle removal efciency in venturi scrubber in ANSYS CFX.

Mesh model prepared in ANSYS ICEM.
EulerianLagrangian approach for multiphase ow.
Investigation of dust removal efciency at different gas and liquid ow rate.
Validation of simulation against throat gas velocity and dust removal efciency.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 30 May 2012
Received in revised form 8 December 2012
Accepted 11 December 2012

a b s t r a c t
This research presents the computational uid dynamics (CFD) simulation of dust particle removal efciency of a venturi scrubber in ANSYS CFX. Venturi scrubber effectively encapsulates the dust particles
from contaminated gas in petite droplets formed by disintegration of a liquid due to high kinetic energy
of gas owing into it. EulerianLagrangian method is employed in ANSYS CFX to investigate the dust
removal efciency of a venturi scrubber for gas ow rate at 0.09, 0.115, and 0.14 kg s1 and liquid ow
rate at 0.1, 0.13 and 0.16 kg s1 . The hydrophobic dust particle titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) of diameter 1 m
having density 4.23 g cm3 is used in the simulation and experimentation. Throat gas velocity, volume
fraction, droplet size and removal efciency are investigated to analyze the performance of venturi scrubber. Cascade atomization and breakup model (CAB) is used to predict the breakup of liquid in the venturi
scrubber. The simulation results are veried from the experimental results of gas velocity at throat and
dust removal efciency. The simulation result predicts good with experimental results.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), reactor containment is the
last barrier to prevent the release of radioactive ssion product into the environment due to reactor core meltdown. Reactor
containment can be severely damaged due to over pressurization caused by the decay heat of molten reactor core (AREVA,
2011). To avoid the serious consequences, ltered vented containment system (FVCS) (Schlueter and Schmitz, 1990) is installed
in NPP to protect the integrity of containment against the over
pressurization and removal of ssion products which are in
aerosol, vapor and gaseous forms release from the fuel into the
containment (Rust et al., 1995). FVCS mainly comprise of venturi
scrubber and metallic ber lter which is shown in Fig. 1. Venturi
scrubber is one the most important type of wet scrubber. It is used to

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 451 82569655; fax: +86 451 82569655.
E-mail addresses: alihrbeu@gmail.com (M. Ali), changqi yan@163.com
(C. Yan), zhongningsun@yahoo.com.cn (Z. Sun), wang-jianjun@hrbeu.edu.cn
(J. Wang), guhaifeng@hrbeu.edu.cn (H. Gu).
0029-5493/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2012.12.013

clean the contaminated gas via droplets within short contact time
between the liquid and gas phases in it. Venturi scrubber primarily
consists of three segments: rst, convergent segment which accelerates the gas to its maximum velocity; second, throat segment
which is between convergent and divergent segments, where gas
and liquid interact with each other and the third is diffuser segment where the uid velocities decelerate for pressure recovery
(Goncalves et al., 2003).
Computational uid dynamic (CFD) method is widely used in
research due to an extensive range of features in different elds
of science and engineering to improve and analyze the performance of system or design. ANSYS CFX is one of the foremost
tools of CFD, which uses the nite volume technique to study the
complex phenomenon such as multiphase ow, chemical reactions, turbulence and heat and mass transfer, etc. in system and
design. Venturi scrubber is one of the main components of FVCS to
remove the aerosols or dust from contaminated gas. Therefore, it is
necessary to design the venturi scrubber properly. Due to this reason, the knowledge about the uid dynamics in venturi scrubber
is very important which include three phase ow i.e. gas, liquid,
and dust.

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M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

Nomenclature
k

F
m
Pk
C1RNG
C2RNG
 kRNG
 RNG
t
r
Cb
CD
Cf
Ck
C
k1
Wet
Wet
Cd
d
E
g
Re
t

v





turbulence kinetic energy (m2 s2 )

turbulence dissipation rate (m2 s3 )
force (N)
mass (kg)
shear production of turbulence (kg s1 s3 )
RNG k turbulence model coefcient (1.42-fh )
RNG k turbulence model coefcient (1.68)
RNG k turbulence model constant (0.7179)
RNG k turbulence model constant (0.7179)
turbulent viscosity (kg m1 s1 )
radius (m)
critical amplitude coefcient (0.5)
damping coefcient (5.0)
external force coefcient (1/3)
restoring force coefcient (8.0)
new droplet velocity factor (1.0)
CAB breakup factor (0.05)
critical Weber number for stripping breakup (80)
critical Weber number for catastrophic breakup
(350)
drag coefcient (dimensionless)
diameter (m)
efciency (dimensionless)
acceleration due to gravity (m/s2 )
Reynolds number (dimensionless)
time (s)
velocity (m/s)
inertial impaction parameter (dimensionless)
viscosity (Ns m2 )
density (kg m3 )
surface tension (N m1 )
Stokes number (dimensionless)

Subscript
d
droplet
gas
g
p
particle
re
removal
inlet
i

There are two approaches available in CFX to simulate the multiphase ow; the Eulerian approach treats the dispersed phases as
interpenetrating continua while the Lagrangian approach treats the
dispersed phases as individual entities (ANSYS, 2010). The advantage of Lagrangian over the Eulerian approach is the tracking of
particle (droplet or solid) injected into the domain. In Eulerian
approach, the average values such as velocity, mass, and temperature of particle phase is calculated whereas Lagrangian approach
calculate these values for each representative particle (Guerra et al.,
2012).
In the present study, the removal efciency of dust particle in
venturi scrubber is simulated and analyzed by EulerianLagrangian
scheme in ANSYS CFX. For this purpose, the features of venturi
scrubber such as throat gas velocity, liquid fraction, droplet size,
and removal efciency are studied. Further, the simulation results
are compared with experimental results for validation of model and
simulation methodology.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses
the previous work for the dust removal efciencies in different
software packages. Section 3 explains the facility developed for
experimentation of dust removal efciency. Section 4 describes the
mathematical model for turbulence, particle transport, and dust

removal efciency. Section 5 enlightens the numerical methodology to solve the problem. In Section 6, the results obtained from
simulation are discussed. Section 7 summarizes the conclusions of
this conducted research work.
2. Previous work
Pak and Chang (2006) simulated the collection efciency of dust
particle in a venturi scrubber by using KIVA code. The model used
in KIVA code was modied for the ow of gas, liquid, and dust ow.
Eulerian method is used for gas phase, and Lagrangian method is
used for droplet and dust. NavierStokes equation solved the equation of motion for gas, whereas BassetBoussinesqOseen (BBO)
equation for droplet and dust. Schmehl et al. correlation was recommended to determine the drag coefcient for droplet. Dust particle
was captured into droplets by inertial impaction mechanism. The
pressure drop was underpredicted due to inaccurate prediction of
droplet and not considering the lm on the walls. The experimental and simulation results for collection efciency agree well with
each other.
Tao and Kuisheng (2009) studied the heat and mass transfer
phenomenon between droplet and gas phase in a venturi scrubber
numerically by FLUENT software. The gas phase was regarded as
continuous phase with Eulers approach, whereas droplet and dust
phase was regarded as discrete phase with Lagrangian approach in
the domain. RNG k turbulence model was used for simulation.
Water was injected in the form of spray. The single droplet collection efciency was calculated for inertial impaction. Heat transfer
coefcient was calculated from Ranz and Marshal correlation, while
Nusselt correlation used for calculation of the mass transfer coefcient. The performance of a venturi scrubber is evaluated at
different bafe openings and liquid to gas ratio. The parameters
included to analyze the performance of a venturi scrubber were:
pressure drop, collection efciency, mole fraction, velocity, and
temperature proles. It was observed that with the decrease of liquid to gas ratio and bafe opening, the pressure drop and collection
efciency was increased.
Goniva et al. (2009) simulated the capturing efciency of a venturi scrubber with OpenFOAM package. TAB model is used for the
droplet breakup. The capture efciency of single droplet is calculated by the sum of inertial, interception, and diffusion mechanism.
The effect of wall lm was also investigated. The models for deposition and entrainment of droplet were used in research. The overall
pressure drop and collection efciency calculated from simulation,
which predicts well with the experimental data.
3. Experimental facility
The schematic diagram of an experimental facility to study the
dust removal efciency of a venturi scrubber is shown in Fig. 2. In
the rst stage, the highly compressed gas is generated from an air
compressor. This compressed gas is further stored in an air tank.
The compressed gas is cleaned with air lters before injected into
the main loop. In second stage, the titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) having
mean size diameter of 1 m is injected into the main loop from
dust particle injection device. Third stage contains the water tank
for injection of liquid into the venturi scrubber. Venturi scrubber
is mounted in the venturi tank such that the direction of gas ows
against the gravity. The venturi scrubber is operated at gas mass
ow rate 0.09, 0.115, and 0.14 kg s1 and liquid ow rate is 0.1, 0.13,
and 0.16 kg s1 . The concentration of dust particle is measured at
sampling point at inlet Si and outlet So by ltration technique. The
dust removal efciency is calculated from the following equation:
Ere =

Cin C0
Cin

(1)

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171

Fig. 1. Filtered vented containment system in Gosgen Nuclear Power Plant.

4. Mathematical modeling
4.1. Turbulence equation
4.2. Particle transport phase
The RNG k model has been used in simulation to model the
turbulence of gas phase in the domain. The conservation equations
for the turbulent kinetic energy k and the dissipation energy for
gas phase are (ANSYS, 2010)

t
k
+ vg k  +
kRNG
t


t
+ vg  +
RNG
t
+ C1RNG Pb ]

k = Pk  + Pkb

(2)

In the CFD model, droplet and dust particle are treated as a discrete particle. The force acting on each particle is the sum of the
drag force and buoyancy force due to gravity on the particle. The
equation of motion of particle can be written as (ANSYS, 2010)
Fp = FD + FB

[C1RNG Pk C2RNG 
k
(3)

mP

1

dvP
= CD g Ap (vg vP )|vg vP | + dP3 (P g )g
2
6
dt

Fig. 2. Experimental facility for dust removal efciency of a venturi scrubber.

(4)

(5)

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M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

Fig. 3. (a) Mesh of venturi scrubber, (b) mesh at throat and (c) mesh near to boundary wall.

Fig. 4. Gas velocity at gas ow rate (A) mg = 0.09 kg s1 , (B) mg = 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) mg = 0.14 kg s1 .

M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

173

Fig. 5. Droplet size at mass ow rate of liquid 0.1 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

4.3. Drag coefcient

the damping forces (ANSYS, 2010). The deformation of droplet in

CAB model can be expressed as (ANSYS, 2010)

Schilller Nauman drag model is used for calculation of drag coefcient for particles (ANSYS, 2010)

CD = max

 24
Re

(1 + 0.15Re0.687 ), 0.44

(6)

y =

2
Cf g Vrel

Cb d rd 2

Ck d
d rd3

CD d
d rd2

(7)

The rate of generation of product of child droplet is calculated

from the following equation (ANSYS, 2010):
dn(t)
= 3Kbr n(t)
dt

(8)

The size of child droplet is calculated as (ANSYS, 2010)

4.4. Droplet breakup and coalescence model
The droplets are formed due to turbulence of gas and external aerodynamic forces acting on the liquid. Cascade atomization
and breakup model (CAB) model treats the deformation of droplet
with the analogy of a spring-mass system. Accordingly to the CAB
model, the restoring force of the spring is represented by the droplet
surface tension whereas the external force is replaced by aerodynamic force exerted on the droplet and liquid viscosity represents

rd,parent
rd,child

= eKbr t

(9)

The Kbr follows the given breakup regime (ANSYS, 2010):

Kbr =

k2 We

k3

We3/4

5 < We < 80
80 < We < 35
350 < We

Fig. 6. Droplet size at mass ow rate of liquid 0.13 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

(10)

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M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

Fig. 7. Droplet size at mass ow rate of liquid 0.16 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

where
k2 = k1
k3 =

1 (1/2)(Ck Cb /Cf Wet )

a cos(1 (C k Cb /Cf Wet ))

k2

(11)
(12)

1/4

Wet2

The single droplet collection efciency  is calculated from inertial impaction mechanism. Inertial impaction is a function of Stokes
number, which depends on densities, relative velocity, and diameters. Inertial impaction is dominant for particle size having a
diameter of 1 m (Lim et al., 2006). The inertial impaction of single
droplet efciency dened by Calvert (1970) is

+ 0.7

p dp2 (vp

vd )

9g dd

(14)

4.6. Dust removal efciency

The dust removal efciency is calculated from the following
equation:

4.5. Single droplet collection efciency

=

is expressed as (Pak and Chang, 2006),

where

(13)

Ere = 1

 m (1 ) 
di
mdi

(15)

5. Numerical methodology
5.1. Turbulence model
EulerianLagrangian approach for three phase ow is employed
in this research. The computations are performed in the steady

Fig. 8. Liquid fraction at mass ow rate of liquid 0.1 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

175

Fig. 9. Liquid fraction at mass ow rate of liquid 0.13 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

state. The gas (air) is treated as a carrier eld, whereas the dust particles as transport dispersed solid and liquid (water) as transport
dispersed uid in the domain. RNG k turbulence model for gas
is used. This model performs well in bending shapes and rotating
ows (ANSYS, 2010).

5.3. Solver
High resolution advection scheme is selected for accurate
numerical solutions. It is used due to its robustness.
5.4. Convergence criteria
The convergence criteria for simulations are 104 RMS for residuals.

5.2. Mesh
The unstructured mesh of a venturi scrubber is created in ANSYS
ICEM. The domain of a 3D Venturi Scrubber model is discretized into
272,136 hexahedral elements and 284,607 nodes. The mesh quality
of the venturi scrubber model is greater than 0.6 on the scale from 0
to 1 based on mesh quality criteria dened in ANSYS ICEM (ANSYS
ICEM CFD, 2009). Fig. 3 (a) depicts the mesh of venturi scrubber on
a plane and, (b) shows the mesh at throat on a plane whereas, (c)
shows the mesh near to the boundary wall.

5.5. Boundary condition

The boundary conditions for the CFD venturi model are dened
as follows: at the inlet, the mass ow rate of the gas is applied, while
dust is injected with particle transport solid with mean diameter
of 1 m. The liquid is injected as particle transport uid with mass
ow rate boundary condition. At the outlet of a venturi scrubber,

Fig. 10. Liquid fraction at mass ow rate of liquid 0.16 kg s1 and gas mass ow rate: (A) 0.09 kg s1 , (B) 0.115 kg s1 , and (C) 0.14 kg s1 .

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M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

the pressure boundary condition is used. The parallel and perpendicular restitution coefcients are 0.0 for droplets in diffuser
wall.
6. Numerical results and discussion
The simulation of three phase ow in venturi scrubber is conducted by EulerianLagrangian approach. The dust and droplet
particles are tracked by Lagrangian method. To study the dust
removal efciency, the hydrophobic particle titanium dioxide
(TiO2 ) is injected at an inlet. The diameter of TiO2 is 1 m and density 4.23 g cm3 . The dust removal efciency of a venturi scrubber
is calculated from the mass ow rate of dust at inlet and outlet
of a venturi scrubber. The removal efciency of a venturi scrubber depends on droplet diameter, uid velocity, and impaction. The
present simulation does not incorporate the heat and mass transfer,
and liquid lm on walls.

6.3. Liquid fraction

The distribution of liquid inside the venturi scrubber highly
affects the performance of a venturi scrubber. The distribution of
liquid is affected by the ow rates of gas and liquid. Therefore, distribution of liquid fraction is analyzed in a venturi scrubber. The
amount of gas and liquid introduced into the scrubber depends
on mass ow rate. The venturi scrubber is simulated with three
different gas ow rate 0.09, 0.115, and 0.14 kg s1 whereas liquid
ow rate 0.1, 0.13, and 0.16 kg s1 . The contours of liquid fraction
at different mass ow rate for gas and liquid inlet are shown in
Figs. 810.
6.4. Validation
The simulation of dust removal efciency of a venturi scrubber
is validated by comparing the throat gas velocity and dust removal
efciency with the experimental results.

6.1. Gas velocity

The gas phase in a venturi scrubber is treated as a continuous
eld. When gas entered into the convergent segment, it accelerates and reaches to its maximum velocity at throat segment while
decelerate in divergent segment. The velocity vectors of gas at mass
ow rate 0.09, 0.115, and 0.14 kg s1 illustrate the behavior in convergent, throat and diffuser segment is as shown in Fig. 4. The
maximum throat gas velocity is achieved at gas mass ow rate of
0.14 kg s1 .
6.2. Droplet size
The droplet size plays a signicant role in the removal process of
a venturi scrubber. Liquid is introduced with mass ow rate boundary condition into the venturi scrubber domain from the liquid inlet
as shown in Fig. 3. When the liquid entered into the throat segment, it interacts with the high velocity of gas. The high gas velocity
atomized the liquid into tiny droplets. The droplet breakup in venturi scrubber domain is predicted by CAB model. The contour of
droplet sizes at different ow rates are shown in Figs. 57. The size
of droplet in contours range is 1100 m. The result shows that
the diameter of droplet decreases with the increase of gas ow
rate.

Fig. 11. Comparison of experimental and simulation result of throat gas velocity at
different gas ow rate.

6.4.1. Throat gas velocity

In Fig. 11, the experimental values of gas velocity at throat are
compared with simulation values. The result shows that the simulation values are very near to experimental values which validate
the simulation results.
6.4.2. Dust removal efciency
The dust removal efciency is calculated from the simulation
result by the mass ratio of the removed dust particles to the total
inow mass of dust particles. The simulation results of dust removal
efciency at 0.1, 0.13, and 0.16 kg s1 liquid ow rates are validated
by comparing with experimental results as shown in Figs. 1214.
The effect of wall lm is ignored, therefore parallel and perpendicular restitution coefcients are 0.0 on diffuser wall. The droplet
which collided with diffuser wall was not further tracked. The CAB
model is used for the droplet breakup in the domain. The dust
particles introduced with the gas at inlet accelerated in the convergent segment. The throat is very short; therefore, mostly collision
of dust with droplet will take place in diffuser segment. The collision of dust particle with the liquid droplets primarily depends
on inertial impaction. However, impaction mechanism depends on
characteristics of dust and droplet. The Stokes number is greater
than 1, which species that the particle remains unaffected by the

Fig. 12. Comparison of experimental and simulation result of dust removal efciency at mass ow rate of liquid 0.1 kg s1 .

M. Ali et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 256 (2013) 169177

177

increases with the increase of gas mass ow rate. The simulation

result of dust removal efciency agrees well with experimental
results.
7. Conclusion

Fig. 13. Comparison of experimental and simulation result of dust removal efciency at mass ow rate of liquid 0.13 kg s1 .

The simulation of venturi scrubber model has been carried

out in ANSYS CFX to study the dust removal efciency of venturi scrubber. Venturi Scrubber model is meshed in ANSYS ICEM.
EulerianLagrangian is implemented for three phase ow simulation. In venturi scrubber model, gas is regarded as an Eulerian
approach while dust and droplet are tracked by Lagrangian
approach. The turbulence effects are calculated by RNG k model.
CAB model is used for droplet breakup in venturi scrubber domain.
The dust removal efciency is calculated from the dust mass ow
rate at inlet and outlet. Inertial impaction is used for capturing of
dust particle. The throat gas velocities at different mass ow rate are
veried with experimental results. The liquid fraction is analyzed
to determine the liquid fraction distribution inside the scrubber.
The dust particle removal efciency increases with the increase in
gas mass ow rate and liquid ow rate. The simulation and experimental results concur well which validates the simulation work.
Acknowledgements
The authors admiringly acknowledge the support of the present
work from College of Nuclear Science and Technology, Harbin Engineering University. The author also gratefully acknowledges the
awarded scholarship from Chinese Scholarship Council.
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Fig. 14. Comparison of experimental and simulation result of dust removal efciency at mass ow rate of liquid 0.16 kg s1 .

uid velocity and does not inuence it. As a result, the particle
collides with the droplet rather than owing around it. The
impaction increases with the increase in relative velocity between
droplet and dust, and with the decrease of diameter of droplet.
With the increases of gas ow rate, the diameter decreases which is
shown in Figs. 57. The decrease in diameter increases the surface
area, and increases the chances of interaction between dust particle and droplet. The result shows that the dust removal efciency

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