Augmentation of thermophoretic deposition in natural convection flow through a parallel plate channel with heat sources

Submicron sized particles suspended in a hot flue gas exposed to a cold wall are driven towards the wall where they finally get deposited. The driving force and velocity acquired by the particles are known as thermophoretic force and thermophoretic velocity respectively. Natural convection through parallel plate channel is considered for analysis in this paper. Two dimensional free convection boundary layer equations are solved using a finite difference marching technique. Incompressible steady flow is considered. Effect of axial laser heating is studied by incorporating heat source term in the energy equation. It is found that the axial laser heating results in enhanced mass deposition rate on the channel wall. Deposition rate is found to be a function of intensity of heating. Results are presented in the form of graphs. Axial heating is useful to enhance smoke particle deposition rate from medium sized wood-fired appliances on account of increasing demand for such appliances throughout the world including developed countries owing to the depleting nature of fossil fuel.