An improved permeability model for fractal aggregates settling in creeping flow

摘要

Aggregates often have mass fractal properties and there is, therefore, considerable interest in the hydrodynamics of mass fractal aggregates. There is no appropriate model in the literature to account for the non-homogeneous permeability within mass fractal aggregates. The new model proposed treats an individual aggregate as a self-similar object made up of a settling swarm of permeable spheres which are themselves made up of a settling swarm of sub-spheres and so on the level of primary particles.