Coagulation of monodisperse aerosol particles by isotropic turbulence

Abstract

The rate of coagulation of initially monodisperse aerosols due to isotropic turbulence is studied with particular emphasis on the effects of noncontinuum hydrodynamics and particle inertia. The prevalence of these two factors distinguishes aerosol coagulation from the coagulation of colloidal particles. The turbulent flow seen by an interacting pair of particles is modelled as a stochastically varying flow field that is a linear function of position. This approximation is valid because the 1–10 micron diameter particles for which turbulence dominates coagulation are much smaller than the smallest eddies of a typical turbulent flow field. It is shown that the finite mean-free path of the gas enhances the rate of coagulation and leads to a finite coagulation rate even in the absence of van der Waals attractions. The coupled effects of turbulent shear and Brownian motion are treated. As in the case of laminar shear flows, it is found that Brownian motion plays an important role in the coagulation process even when the Peclet number is moderately large. It is shown that particle inertia increases the coagulation rate in two ways. First, preferential concentration increases the radial distribution function on length scales intermediate between the Kolmogorov length scale and the particle diameter. Second, the greater persistence of particles’ relative motion during their local interaction leads to an increase in coagulation rate with increasing particle Stokes number.