This is the 2D top-down companion to the 3D electrostatic-precipitator simulator. Dust-laden gas flows left to right between two grounded collector plates past a corona wire down the centreline; every particle drifts sideways under the same migration-velocity model as the 3D version, computed independently here rather than rendered from a 3D mesh. A live plot below the duct — a genuinely 2D-native view with no 3D equivalent — traces how collection efficiency depends on particle size at the current field and flow settings.
q_sat = 3πε0 d_p² E
w = ε0 · d_p · E² · C_c / μ
C_c = 1 + (2λ/d_p)·[1.257 + 0.4·exp(-0.55 d_p/λ)]
E = V / s (applied voltage / plate half-spacing)
η = 1 - exp(-w·A / Q) (Deutsch–Anderson)
- Voltage / spacing — set the field E = V/s that both charges and collects the particles; a bigger field or narrower duct raises w.
- Gas velocity — raises the volumetric flow Q, cutting residence time and lowering η for the same plate area.
- Particle diameter — bigger particles hold more charge (d_p²) but drag scales linearly with d_p, so w still grows with size here; the Cunningham slip correction C_c partly compensates for sub-micron particles, whose mean free path λ ≈ 66 nm is no longer negligible next to d_p.
- Each dot in the duct is tracked individually. Capture is modelled as a per-particle hazard rate w/s (captures per second) rather than "drift sideways until you touch the wall" — the same well-mixed assumption the Deutsch–Anderson formula itself relies on, since real duct turbulence keeps continuously remixing particles across the cross-section. The measured η readout is the running fraction of particles the live tracker actually collects before reaching the outlet, and converges on the closed-form theory value above.
- The curve below sweeps particle diameter from 0.1–100 µm at the current voltage, spacing and gas velocity, marking where the current slider sits — a real efficiency-vs-size design curve, the same kind used to size real precipitator plate area for a target dust fraction.
Real-world relevance: this is the working principle behind full-scale electrostatic precipitators on coal-fired power plants, cement kilns and smelters, typically removing >99% of fly ash by mass.