A numerical study of the effects of a moving operator on particles in a cleanroom with a curtain

The motion of airflow and particles induced by a moving operator in a cleanroom installed with a solid worktable and a vertical isolating curtain were studied numerically. This situation is classified as a kind of moving boundary problem, and a Galerkin finite element formulation with an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian kinematic description method is adopted to analyze this problem. Two different moving speeds of the operator under Reynolds number Re = 500 and Schmidt number Sc = 1.0 are taken into consideration. The results show that recirculation zones, which are disadvantageous to remove the particles, are observed around the operator and near the worktable. The behavior of the operator usually prevents the particles from being removed, and the higher moving speed of the operator demonstrates that the removal of particles becomes more difficult. These phenomena are quite different from those that regard the moving operator as stationary in the cleanroom.