Numerical Investigation on the Depth Filtration of Liquid Metals: Influence of Process Conditions and Inclusion Properties

In the present study, an alternative approach for the numerical investigation of short‐term depth filtration of liquid metals within ceramic foam filters (CFF) is proposed, which is expected to drastically reduce the computational effort of simulations. In this methodology, the flow field is solved in a repeating periodic element of the filter structure, while the inclusions are tracked on an unfolded flow field with much larger dimensions. In order to demonstrate the performance and utility of this approach for parametric studies, the influence of different parameters on the depth filtration of liquid metal within CFF is investigated for the transient, laminar flow of liquid metal through an idealized two‐dimensional filter structure. The fluid flow is numerically solved using the lattice‐Boltzmann method and the trajectories of the metal inclusions within the filter are calculated using a Lagrangian approach through one‐way coupling. The filtration efficiency is evaluated for inclusions of different size and density ratio and its dependence on different process conditions is analyzed, along with the spatial behavior of the filtration process. Regarding the inclusion properties, the results show that the filtration efficiency is significantly influenced by the size of the inclusions and, in case of large particles, also by the density ratio. Further, the filter porosity affects the filtration process while the direction of gravity is found to be unimportant. The article proposes an alternative approach for the numerical simulation of depth filtration of liquid metals using ceramic foam filters, which is expected to significantly reduce the computation time compared to established methods. The utility of the technique is demonstrated by performing a sensitivity analysis of the filtration efficiency on the inclusion properties and the process conditions.