Filters

Liliana de Luca Xavier Augusto is PhD student of chemical
engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos in Brasil.
She spent one year of her PhD (October 2015-2016) at the KIT in
Karlsruhe to work with the group developing the software OpenLB
at the Mathematical Department and the Department of Chemical
Engineering.


Liliana Augusto investigates filtering devices which work on a
micro (10−6m) and nano (10−9m) level, and computes the pressure
drop between in- and outlet of the filter as well as the
collection efficiency. There is a research group conducting
experimental setups for these problems, but her research group
focuses specifically on mathematical modeling and computer
simulation. Due to the small scale and nature of the experiments,
one cannot easily take pictures from the physical filters by
electronic microsopy, but it is indeed feasible to deduce some
important characteristics and geometry such as the size of the
fibres for proper modelling and simulation. Appropriate models
for the small scale are mesoscopic like Lattice Boltzmann Model
where microscopic models are very expensive- too expensive. She
is busy with special boundary conditions necessary no-slip
boundary condition on the macro scale has to be translated. There
is a certain slip to be taken into account to align the results
with experimental findings.


Lattice Boltzman methods are not very prominent in Brasil. She
was looking for suitable partners and found the development group
around OpenLB who had co-operations with Brazil. She tried to
apply the software on the problem, and she found out about the
possibility to work in Germany through a program of the Brasilian
government. It is not so common to go abroad as a PhD-student in
Brazil. She learnt a lot not only in an academical manner but
highly recommends going abroad to experience new cultures as
well.


She does not speak German- everything, from looking for partners
to arriving in Germany, happened so fast that she could not learn
the language beforehand. At the university, English was more than
sufficient for scientific work, but she had difficulties finding
a place to stay. In the end, she found a room in a student dorm
with German students and a few other international students.
References

L.L.X. Augusto e.a.: CFD Simulation of nanofiber-enhanced air
filter media - FILTECH 2015 - G6 - Modelling and simulation,
2015.

L.L.X. Augusto e.a.: Predicting air flow resistance and
capture efficiency of fibrous air filter media - Roomvent, 2014.