Dust resuspension from fabrics exposed to airflow

Abstract

Dust resuspension from four typical fabrics (cotton, linen, silk, and polyester) exposed to airflow with common velocities within 0–10 m/s, including a moving fabric case and a fixed fabric case, was experimentally studied in this article. A set of empirical correlations, involving air velocity, fabric motion mode, fabric type, and airflow duration was developed to describe and predict the moving fabric case. It was found that a stronger-than-expected resuspension was triggered by short-term accelerating airflow. The resuspension enhancement of over 90% was reported for the moving fabrics compared with the fixed ones. Fabric motion induced by airflow was proposed to account for these resuspension findings. Fabric acceleration was then demonstrated to be a key factor in evaluating the resuspension for such a scenario. This article not only reveals an inconspicuous phenomenon of dust resuspension from fabrics under the impact of airflow and consequent fabric motion, but also provides a theoretical basis for particulate matter assessment and regulation.

Copyright © 2024 American Association for Aerosol Research

Graphical Abstract

EDITOR:

• Andrea Ferro

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the General Research Fund (GRF) (project no. 17203220) and the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) (projects no. C7064-18G & C1105-20G) granted by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and internal grants from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (projects no. P0041489 & P0045922).