Predictive Modeling Of The Induction Stage Of Crystallization Fouling

The induction stage of crystallization fouling has been investigated experimentally. According to those experimental studies, the surface energy and the roughness of heat transfer surface, the velocity and temperature of inlet fluid, and the inlet heat flux do have a great influence on the induction stage of crystallization fouling. Modeling work in this area can be hardly identified in open literature. The limited models developed so far can hardly take into account the effect of crystal morphologies on the fouling process. An effective predictive model, however, is expected to quantitatively correlate the dynamics of fouling resistance throughout the induction stage fouling process with surface chemistry and morphology, solution chemistry and operating parameters.A 3D computational fluid dynamics(CFD) model is developed in our group for characterizing the induction stage of fouling in micro-structured devices. The growth of crystals with specially designed morphologies at mesoscale(i.e., micrometer scale) has been coupled with flow dynamics and heat transfer. This model sheds light on the mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement during the induction stage. The effects of crystal distribution density, crystal distribution, crystal shape and height, crystal orientation and crystal growth schemes on the fouling process have been discussed. And the quantitative findings in this work are expected to guide the design of heat transfer facilities for higher performance.