BEHAVIOR OF AEROSOLS UNDERGOING BROWNIAN COAGULATION, BROWNIAN DIFFUSION AND GRAVITATIONAL SETTLING IN A CLOSED CHAMBER

Abstract

The behavior of aerosols undergoing Brownian coagulation, Brownian diffusion and gravitational settling in a closed chamber was studied by solving the basic equation, the so-called population balance equation, numerically for a polydisperse aerosol system and analytically for a monodisperse system, and then the results were examined by experiment. In solving the basic equation, two dimensionless parameters, which are determined by the initial properties of an aerosol and the chamber dimension and also characterize the relative effects of Brownian coagulation and Brownian diffusion to gravitational settling, were introduced in order to generalize the behavior under arbitrary conditions. The calculated results, the time-dependent changes in particle number concentration and particle size distribution for a polydisperse system, were presented graphically by using the above two parameters. And further using these parameters, the domains of the three controlling factors were mapped to show the extent of each effect of these factors under various conditions for a monodisperse system. Some of the calculated results were compared with the experimental results obtained by the ultramicroscopic size analysis previously developed by the authors.