| Fluid flow and filtration phenomena associated with filtration of liquid aluminum using reticulated ceramic filters were systematically investigated. It was found that fluid flow through this type of filter could be described by Darcy's Law up to a Reynolds number of 8, and the permeability of this type of filter ranged from about ;Parameters affecting filtration processes during the initial period were identified, some of which could be quantified numerically using a 2-D computational domain. According to these numerical analyses, the clean filter coefficient for this type of filter was linearly dependent on the dimensionless Stokes velocity of the suspended particles, had a ;The dynamic behaviour of this type of filter was analyzed theoretically and simulated numerically using newly proposed correlations relating the filter coefficient and the pressure drop to the amount of particles captured within the filter (the specific deposit), and a model describing the morphology of captured particles. The simulated results showed that the filtration efficiency and the pressure drop increased with inlet particle concentration and filtration time; these increases were however, insignificant when the inlet particle concentration was less than 1 ppm for filtration periods of two hours, however, when the inlet concentration (initial and continued) reached 10 ppm, the change became appreciable.;Experimental data, obtained from liquid aluminum filtration tests conducted by the author in both laboratory and industrial settings, compared favourably with the numerical results. |
