Modeling analyses of radioactive aerosol flow and collection in mesoscopic impactor filters

• MEMS inertial impactor filters are proposed.
• The impactors can screen and collect aerosol particles.
• The modeling analyses are given.

The concentration of radioactive aerosols in the containment increases rapidly during the serious nuclear accidents. The common aerosol filters use mesh structures or filter papers, which can significantly increase the flow resistance due to the aerosol deposition and retard the containment pressure relief following the nuclear accidents. This paper proposes and studies a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) inertial impactor filters which can filtrate and collect 1 to 3 microns aerosol particles without filter papers. It can significantly reduce the flow resistance in filtering micron-size aerosol particles. The modeling method is given and the simulation results are analyzed.