Investigation of Aggregation Kernel and Simulation of Ultrafine Particle Aggregation under Turbulence and Brownian Motion

Abstract

In the present study, the influence of different particle aggregation models on the fly ash particle aggregation process of a turbulence aggregation device has been studied. The influence of an interparticle repulsive potential energy barrier, U_max, on the rate of aggregation was considered, and capture efficiency, f (α), was introduced to correct the ideal turbulence aggregation kernel. The simulation results of an ideal turbulence aggregation model and a corrected turbulence aggregation model were compared to the experimental results, and showed that the error between the ideal turbulence aggregation model and experimental results was approximately 8%; whereas, the error between the corrected turbulence aggregation model and experimental results was only 3%. Brownian aggregation cannot be ignored in the turbulence aggregation of the particles less than 2 µm in diameter. The coupled corrected turbulence aggregation and Brownian aggregation model coincided well with the experimental results.