Abstract
The process of agglomeration of powder particles has been simulated on a digital computer by using a two-dimensional coalescence model based on the geometrical model of floc formation proposed by Sutherland. The new concept of coalescence probability was introduced to deal with the slow agglomeration process. Initially, 100 discs of equal size numbered from 1 to 100 were taken as the unit particles. Two discs were chosed randomly and collided with each other. Whether coalescence of the two discs occurred or not was determined by comparing the pseudo-random number generated at every collision with the coalescence probability P ; P=2/(Dsn+1), where Ds is the size of the smaller colliding particle and n is a constant. The disc formed by coalescence was substituted for either of the two colliding discs and the other remained, so that the total number of discs always remained 100 throughout the computation. The average floc size increased with time until an equilibrium state was reached, and the process followed first-order kinetics.
