Numerical simulation of electrostatic particle deposition on a target in aerosol flow with and without effect of deposited charged particles

Abstract

A two-dimensional simulation of charged aerosol flow has been conducted for electrostatic particle deposition onto targeted areas of a substrate. The distribution of deposited particles changes dramatically according to the kind of substrate. For a substrate made from insulating material, particles deposit uniformly on it except for the edges of the targeted areas, while for a substrate made from conducting material, the effective area for particle deposition becomes narrower than that of the insulator substrate. By adopting a distortion of the electric field due to the charged particle deposition into the simulation code, we have studied the change of both the electric field and the particle deposition with the passage of time. In the course of time, the electric field becomes weak in the targeted areas and particles deposit also in the area outside the targeted area. We have also examined the effects of both initial surface potential and particle concentration on the distribution of deposited particles. The number of particles deposited increases monotonously with an increase in initial potential, and the coefficient of variation for the number of deposited particles in the targeted areas has an almost constant value up to a given initial potential and then decreases. On the other hand, the number of deposited particles has a maximum value at some sufficient concentration of feed particles, and the coefficient of variation has a minimum value at the same concentration.