PARTICLES 2025

Fast Prediction of Electrostatic Powder Coating Sprays with a Moving Source

  • Gimenez, Juan (CIMNE)
  • Oñate, Eugenio (CIMNE)
  • Idelsohn, Sergio (CIMNE)

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Electrostatic powder coating involves transporting charged particles in a turbulent carrier gas and depositing them onto surfaces under the action of an electric field. Accurately simulating this process is challenging due to the strong coupling between fluid dynamics, electrostatic forces, and particle behavior—particularly when the powder spray source (or gun) moves relative to the target geometry, as is common in industrial applications. In this work, we present a multiscale simulation framework for electrostatic powder coating that enables fast and accurate predictions, even with a moving spray source. The approach builds on a continuous particle-laden flow model within the Pseudo-Direct Numerical Simulation (P-DNS) methodology. Fine-scale interactions between particles, fluid, and electric fields are precomputed in idealized Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) and stored in a dimensionless database. During the macroscopic simulation, this database is queried based on local flow and field parameters, enabling efficient and physics-informed modeling of the dispersed phase. To accurately capture the effect of a moving gun, we implement a dynamic mesh strategy that tracks the position of the spray source and adapts the computational domain accordingly. This allows for realistic modeling of the coating process over complex geometries with time-dependent boundary conditions. The method is validated against experimental data and applied to practical scenarios, evaluating the influence of variables such as particle size, applied voltage, and gun trajectory on the resulting film thickness and uniformity. The results demonstrate the potential of the framework as a predictive and computationally affordable tool for the design and optimization of electrostatic powder coating systems.