Particle-laden flow around an obstacle in a square pipe: experiments and modeling

Particle trapping and deposition around an obstacle occur in many natural and industrial situations and in particular in the nuclear industry. In the steam generator of a nuclear power plant, the progressive obstruction of the flow due to particle deposition reduces the efficiency and can induce tube cracking leading to breaking and damage. The steam generator then loses its role as a safety barrier of the nuclear power plant. From a fundamental standpoint, dilute and concentrated particulate flows have received a growing attention in the last decade. In this study, we investigate the transport of solid particles around obstacles in a confined flow. Experiments were performed in a simplified configuration by considering a laminar flow in a vertical tube. An obstacle was inserted at the middle height of the tube and neutrally-buoyant particles were injected at different locations along the tube. We have investigated first the trajectories of individual particles using particle tracking (PT). Then, the particle trajectories were modeled by using the Boussinesq-Basset-Oseen equation with a flow velocity field either measured using particle image velocimetry (PIV) or calculated by the Code_Saturne software in order to account for the three-dimensional (3D) character of the obstacle wake. This paper presents a comparison between the experimental observations and the predictions of the modeling for an obstacle consisting of a rectangular step at a Reynolds number of ≈100 and evidences the importance of accounting for the 3D complex nature of the flow.