A CFD study of the aerodynamic efficiency of V-shaped fog water collectors

• Published in: The International journal of heat and fluid flow 2024-07, Vol.107, p.109382, Article 109382
• Main Authors: Silva-Llanca, Luis, Carvajal, Danilo, Larraguibel, Dante, González, Bastián
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computational Fluid Dynamics; Cost-analysis; Fog water collection
• ISSN: 0142-727X; 1879-2278
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2024.109382

•Aerodynamic efficiency of V-shaped fog water collectors was analyzed through CFD.•Low opening angle increases efficiency due to the higher effective capture area and reduced mesh’s pressure drop.•46% decrease in cost is achieved with respect to the standard mesh-based two-dimensional flat fog collector. [Display omitted] Aerodynamic fog collection efficiency is the main “bottleneck” in the overall fog water harvesting of fog collectors. Despite some advances made to date, there is still a significant knowledge gap related to aerodynamic aspects, especially for three-dimensional geometries. Moreover, the costs associated with improved aerodynamic efficiency fog collectors have been little documented which could be a barrier to its application. In this paper, the aerodynamic efficiency of two types of V-shaped three-dimensional fog collector geometries is analyzed and compared from the economic point of view. The fluid dynamics is simulated by solving the steady three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for turbulent flow using the Finite Volume method. Fog collector’s mesh is modeled as a porous medium using the Porous Jump method, while the aerodynamic efficiency is calculated using the Particle Tracking approach. Results indicate that a low opening angle V-shape geometry increases aerodynamic efficiency due to the higher effective capture area and reduced pressure drop through the mesh. The cost associated with this geometric improvement is considerably lower than that of a mesh-based two-dimensional flat fog collector, achieving a 46% decrease in cost. The conclusions of this work contribute to the feasibility of fog collection systems and expand their application.