Langevin PDF simulation of particle deposition in a turbulent pipe flow

The paper deals with the description of particle deposition on walls from a turbulent flow over a large range of particle diameter, using a Langevin PDF model. The first aim of the work is to test how the present Langevin model is able to describe this phenomenon and to outline the physical aspects which play a major role in particle deposition. The general features and characteristics of the present stochastic model are first recalled. Then, results obtained with the standard form of the model are presented along with an analysis which has been carried out to check the sensitivity of the predictions on different mean fluid quantities. These results show that the physical representation of the near-wall physics has to be improved and that, in particular, one possible route is to introduce specific features related to the near-wall coherent structures. In the following, we propose a simple phenomenological model that introduces some of the effects due to the presence of turbulent coherent structures on particles in a thin layer close to the wall. The results obtained with this phenomenological model are in good agreement with experimental evidence and this suggests to pursue in that direction, toward the development of more general and rigorous stochastic models that provide a link between a geometrical description of turbulent flow and a statistical one.