Computational Simulation of the Fiber Movement in the Melt-Blowing Process

An air/fiber two-phase flow model is used to simulate the broken fiber movement during melt-blowing process. The computation is based on the results from simulations of single-phase air flow field developed by two converging plane jets for a blunt-type die using a computational fluid dynamics approach. The specific parallel straight and tilted straight fiber configurations are used as the initial fiber shape. The simulated fiber trajectories qualitatively coincide with images captured by other researchers. Two meltblowing processing parameters, the initial air velocity and the air slot angle, are studied in terms of their influence on the fiber motion in the flow field.