1

Transport Phenomena
(Mihelcic & Zimmerman, Section 4.3)
(Mines & Lackey, miscellaneous places)
Types of transport of a substance in a fluid (air or water)
NATURAL PROCESSES:
1. Advection: Passive entrainment of substance by the carrying fluid
Examples
Smokestack fume blown by the wind
Sediments flowing down a river
2. Diffusion: Motion with respect to the carrying fluid by random molecular collision
Examples:
spreading of a chemical in still water
spreading of a toxic gas in still air
3. Turbulent dispersion: Motion with respect to the carrying fluid by chaotic,
turbulent swirls of the fluid motion
Example: stirring cream in coffee
4. Gravitational settling: Vertical motion with respect to the fluid because of a density
difference; particles heavier than fluid sink to the bottom; those lighter than
the fluid rise to the top.
Examples:
soil particles settling at the bottom of a lake
oil drops floating on the sea
http://www.bubbleology.com/
seeps/SeepTarStudy.htm
2
UNNATURAL PROCESSES
designed to enhance transport when natural processes are too weak
5. Centrifugal settling also called inertial drift:
Spinning of the fluid to exert a centrifugal
force that acts sideways and can be much
stronger than gravity
6. Electrostatic settling also called electrostatic drift:
Charging particles and passage through an electric
field to force them to migrate out of the fluid
toward an electrode where they are collected
http://www.ppcesp.com/ppcart.html
Example: catching flies on the windshield
of a moving car, cyclone dust remover
Example: electrostatic ash precipitator at a power plant
Notion of mass flux
(Mihelcic & Zimmerman, page 140)
Case of advection:
Over a time interval At, fluid moving
at velocity U travels a distance
AL = UAt. For a cross-sectional
area A, this defines a volume of size
V = AUAt.
The amount of substance in that
parcel of fluid is
V C = AUAt C
C U C
A
Q
t A
C t AU
t A
C V
J
= =
A
A
=
A
=

=

time area
substance of amount
Thus, in the case of advection, the flux is the product of the velocity of the
entraining fluid and the concentration of the substance.
Definition:
The flux J of a substance is defined as the
amount that is transported per unit area A
and per unit time.
By definition, the flux J of the substance
is the amount that passes through per
area and per time:
A J m
A
m
J = =

m
3
Drag on falling (rising) particles
(Mihelcic & Zimmerman, page 148)
(Mines & Lackey, page 220 with added generality)
Particles in relative motion with respect to a fluid
are subject to a frictional drag force, F
d
.
In fluid mechanics, we learn that:
2 2
2 2
2
8

2
1
4

2
1
) area frontal )( t coefficien drag (
p p f d
f p d
f d
V d C
V d C
V F
p
p

=
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
d
p
particle diameter
Most often, particles in air and water are either
heavier or lighter. Thus, they fall (settle) or rise
with respect to the air or water.
where

f
= density of fluid
V
p
= particle velocity
V
p
F
d
The drag coefficient is not constant,
except for the very large particles that
move fast with respect to the fluid.
In general, it is a function of the speed of
the particle, measured in terms of the
Reynolds number:
Three regimes:
Stokes (slow):
Intermediate:
Newton (fast):
p d
p p
p
d
p
p
d
C
C
C
Re 1000 445 . 0
1000 Re 3 . 0 ) Re 14 . 0 1 (
Re
24
3 . 0 Re
Re
24
7 . 0
< =
< < + =
< =
viscosity fluid
velocity particle
diameter particle
fluid of density where
Re
=
=
=
=
=
f
p
p
f
f
p p f
p
V
d
V d

2 2
173 . 0
3
p p f d
p p f d
V d F
V d F

t
=
=
4
Correction for the very small particles (diameter < 1 m = 10
-6
m):
(Nazaroff & Alvarez-Cohen, page 174)
For very small particles, the fluid molecules may not be that much smaller than the
particles, and the fluid flow around the particles begins to appear as if it had a lot of holes
through which the particle may more easily pass. This leads to a reduced drag.
The drag force is then reduced (divided) by a factor, called the Cunningham slip factor,
and denoted C
c
:
c
p p f
c
d
C
V d
C
F
t 3
force drag d uncorrecte
= =
m 066 . 0 where
55 . 0
exp 80 . 0 51 . 2 1

=
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
g
g
p
p
g
c
d
d
C
To get C
c
, either use formula or graph:
5
Gravitational settling
(Mihelcic & Zimmerman, page 149)
m
o
t
i
o
n
When moving relatively to a fluid,
a particle is subject to 3 forces:
- its own weight
- a buoyancy force
- a drag force.
After a brief period of acceleration,
a balance is achieved between these 3 forces:
2 2
3
fluid displaced
3
particle
2
1
4
: force drag
6
: force buoyancy
6
: particle of weight

p
V d C F
g
d
g m F
g
d
g m F
F F F
f p d d
p
f b
p
p g
d b g

t
t

=
= =
= =
+ =
d
p
Note difference:
p
= density of material making up the particle,
f
= fluid density.
Two extreme (and most common) situations:
Small particles (Stokes regime Re
p
< 0.3):
Large particles (Newtons regime 1000 < Re
p
):
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
f
f p p c
p
gd C
V

18
2
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
f
f p
p p
d g V

0 . 3
Some useful numbers in this context:
3
3 3
5 3
kg/m 2650 : grit Sand,
s) kg/(m 10 0 . 1 kg/m 997 : Water
s) kg/(m 10 8 . 1 kg/m 20 . 1 : Air
=
= =
= =

p
f f
f f

6
Particle settling
in air
Source:
Nazaroff & Alvarez-Cohen, 2001,
page 177
Particle settling
in water
Source:
Nazaroff & Alvarez-Cohen, 2001,
page 178
7
EXAMPLE
(Taken from Nazaroff & Alvarez-Cohen, 2001, page 179)
Studies have shown that a white surface becomes noticeably soiled when 0.2% of its area
is covered by black particles, such as soot.
Estimate the time required for an initially clean, horizontal surface to appear soiled if it is
exposed to an atmosphere containing 10 g/m
3
of soot particles of diameter 5 m.
Assume that the particles are spherical and have a density of 2.5 g/cm
3
.
SOLUTION
Soot particles are small particles. So, assume Stokes drift, but there is no need to apply
the Cunningham slip correction factor (particle diameter > 1 m). The settling speed is:
cm/s 189 . 0
g/cm.s 10 8 . 1
g/cm 10 2 . 1 5 . 2
18
) m 10 5 )( m/s 81 . 9 )( 1 (

18
4
3 3 2 6 2
2
=
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=

f
f p p c
p
gd C
V

Next, determine the number of particles per unit volume of air:
3 3
10
3 6
cm
particles
0611 . 0
m
particles
116 , 61
g/particle 10 636 . 1
g/m 10 10
particle each of mass
air in the ion concentrat mass
= =

= =

-
C
Determine the mass of each particle
g 10 636 . 1 ) cm 10 5 (
6
) g/cm 5 . 2 (
6
10 3 4 3 3
= = =
t t

p p p
d m
The flux of falling particles is
s cm
particles
0116 . 0 ) cm/s 189 . 0 )( cm particles/ 0611 . 0 (
2
3

= = =
p
V C J
Each particle has a footprint equal to its cross-sectional area
2 7 2 4 2
cm 10 963 . 1 ) cm 10 5 (
4 4

= = =
t t
p p
d A
8
Take 1 cm
2
of the surface. It has become soiled when 0.2% of its surface is covered
by particles, which is 0.002 cm
2
.
This surface coverage necessitates the deposition of a certain number of particles:
particles 186 , 10
particle / cm 10 963 . 1
cm 002 . 0
particle per surface
surface
2 7
2
=

= =

N
At the rate the particles are falling down, this will take a time equal to
days 2 . 10
hours 8 . 244
157 , 881
second per cm per falling particles 0.0116
surface of cm per particles 186 , 10
2
2
=
=
= s