Mechanism for clogging of microchannels by small particles with liquid cohesion

Abstract We numerically investigate the effect of liquid cohesion on the clogging of microchannels induced by small wet particles. The computer simulation is performed by the discrete element method (DEM) with cohesive contact models in presence of pendular liquid bridges, which is embedded into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). We find that liquid cohesion significantly promotes particle deposition and agglomerate growth. A clogging phase diagram, in the form of Weber number and Stokes number, is constructed to quantify the clogging‐nonclogging transition. The competition between particle–particle and particle–fluid interactions is quantitatively discussed in terms of particle velocity and slip velocity. Strong cohesion can address a greater slip velocity or drag between particles and fluid, which depresses the resuspension of deposited particles and results in clogging. Finally, we compare our results with clogging induced by van der Waals adhesion of small dry particles and find that the competence of liquid cohesion is more prominent.