Summary: CFD modelling has been used to study the unique problem of airflow containing fibres around 3D porous media in nonwoven web forming systems. The related gas‐solid two‐phase flows were simulated using a commercial CFD package, FLUENT. Simulation results revealed that the uniformity of air velocities and fibre concentration around the moulds, particularly for complex‐shaped moulds, could be improved significantly by means of employing vertically oriented web forming system and moulds with controlled porosity. Experimental results indicated that the distribution of the area densities of the 3D nonwovens produced using polypropylene/polyester bi‐component fibre followed the same patterns of the airflow and fibre distributions simulated using the CFD model. The CFD model is a valuable tool for optimising the web forming systems and improving the uniformity of the 3D nonwovens.
Area density distribution of the 3D products produced using the vertical system.
