Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of particle uptake by an occupational air sampler using manually-scaled and adaptive grids

This work presents fluid flow and particle trajectory simulation studies to determine the aspiration efficiency of a horizontally oriented occupational air sampler using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Grid adaption and manual scaling of the grids were applied to two sampler prototypes based on a 37-mm cassette. The standard k–ε model was used to simulate the turbulent air flow and a second order streamline-upwind discretization scheme was used to stabilize convective terms of the Navier–Stokes equations. Successively scaled grids for each configuration were created manually and by means of grid adaption using the velocity gradient in the main flow direction. Solutions were verified to assess iterative convergence, grid independence and monotonic convergence. Particle aspiration efficiencies determined for both prototype samplers were undistinguishable, indicating that the porous filter does not play a noticeable role in particle aspiration. Results conclude that grid adaption is a powerful tool that allows to refine specific regions that require lots of detail and therefore better resolve flow detail. It was verified that adaptive grids provided a higher number of locations with monotonic convergence than the manual grids and required the least computational effort. [Display omitted] •CFD was used to model the aspiration efficiencies of two sampler prototypes.•The air flow field was modeled using the standard k–ε turbulent model.•A discrete phase model was used for particle trajectories.•Manual and adapted grids were created to assess convergence and independence.•Simulations on the adaptive grids provided the least computational effort.