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Empirical Formulae for Determining Pressure Drop Across a 20-Layer Flooded-Bed Scrubber Screen

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Abstract

The use of a woven wire-mesh screen as part of a flooded-bed dust-scrubbing system is very popular in the underground coal mining industry. It is used in combination with a demister (mist eliminator) to remove dust from the dust-laden air. A study was conducted to measure the pressure drop across a flooded-bed wire-mesh screen at different airflow rates in one-phase (dry) and two-phase (wet) conditions. Two empirical relationships between pressure drop and air velocity were developed for dry and wet conditions, respectively. In both cases, the form of the empirical relationships was found to be similar to relationships given by Sabri Ergun for high velocity non-Darcy single and multi-phase flow through porous media. The experiments were repeated on a reduced-scale model of the wire-mesh screen, and the pressure-velocity relationships obtained from the full-scale prototype experiments were tested. The test results show validation of the full-scale empirical formulas on the small-scale model with an insignificant variation. This paper presents the empirical equations for pressure drop across the wire-mesh screen in dry and wet conditions. Researchers can use these equations as a tool to predict total pressure drops for wire-mesh screens of different scale sizes.

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Abbreviations

∇p :

Pressure gradient (Pa)

μ :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

v :

Superficial velocity (m/s)

ρ :

Air density (kg/m3)

K :

Intrinsic permeability (m2)

k :

Relative permeability (m2)

η :

Intrinsic passability (m)

Y :

Inertial factor

α :

Scale factor

l :

Characteristic length (m)

g :

Acceleration of gravity (m/s2)

F i :

Inertia force of air (N)

F g :

Gravitational force on airflow (N)

C c :

Orifice coefficient

d :

Hydraulic dia. reduced scale (m)

D :

Hydraulic dia. prototype (m)

A 1 :

Area of wind tunnel (m2)

A 2 :

Area of wire mesh (m2)

X :

Shock loss (Pa)

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank personnel from Joy Global, Inc., and the Tunnel Ridge Longwall Mine (Alliance Coal, LLC) for their guidance.

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health, Inc. (grant number AFC113-10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining & Geological Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1760 Tanana Loop, 305 Duckering, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Sampurna Arya

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Thomas Novak, Adam Levy & Joseph Sottile

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Kozo Saito

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  1. Sampurna Arya
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Correspondence to Sampurna Arya.

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Arya, S., Novak, T., Saito, K. et al. Empirical Formulae for Determining Pressure Drop Across a 20-Layer Flooded-Bed Scrubber Screen. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 36, 1169–1177 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-019-0091-5

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