Numerical Study on the Coagulation and Breakage of Nanoparticles in the Two-Phase Flow around Cylinders

The Reynolds averaged N-S equation and dynamic equation for nanoparticles are numerically solved in the two-phase flow around cylinders, and the distributions of the concentration M₀ and geometric mean diameter d of particles are given. Some of the results are validated by comparing with previous results. The effects of particle coagulation and breakage and the initial particle concentration m₀₀ and size d₀ on the particle distribution are analyzed. The results show that for the flow around a single cylinder, M₀ is reduced along the flow direction. Placing a cylinder in a uniform flow will promote particle breakage. For the flow around multiple cylinders, the values of M₀ behind the cylinders oscillate along the spanwise direction, and the wake region in the flow direction is shorter than that for the flow around a single cylinder. For the initial monodisperse particles, the values of d increase along the flow direction and the effect of particle coagulation is larger than that of particle breakage. The values of d fluctuate along the spanwise direction; the closer to the cylinders, the more frequent the fluctuations of d values. For the initial polydisperse particles with d₀ = 98 nm and geometric standard deviation σ = 1.65, the variations of d values along the flow and spanwise directions show the same trend as for the initial monodisperse particles, although the differences are that the values of d are almost the same for the cases with and without considering particle breakage, while the distribution of d along the spanwise direction is flatter in the case with initial polydisperse particles.