As a type of fiber system, nonwoven fabric is ideal for solid-liquid separation and air filtration. With the wide application of nonwoven filter materials, it is crucial to explore the complex relationship between its meso structure and filtration performance. In this paper, we proposed a novel method for constructing the real meso-structure of spun-bonded nonwoven fabric using computer image processing technology based on the idea of a "point-line-body". Furthermore, the finite element method was adopted to predict filtration efficiencies based on the built 3D model. To verify the effectiveness of the constructed meso-structure and simulation model, filtration experiments were carried out on the fabric samples under different pollution particle sizes and inlet velocities. The experimental results show that the trends observed in the simulation results are consistent with those of the experimental results, with a relative error smaller than 10% for any individual datum.
Keywords: 3D model; finite element method; image processing; spun-bonded nonwoven fabric.