Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Coagulation of Aerosols With Broad Initial Size Distributions.

Published

Author(s)

George W. Mulholland, Howard R. Baum, T G. Lee

Abstract

The effect of coagulation on an aerosol with a broad initial size distribution was calculated analytically for large and small particle sizes for arbitrary time with the assumption of a constant coagulation collision frequency. It was found for the class of algebraic initial distributions that in general there is no self-preserving size distribution though for the special case of a Junge like algebraic size distribution there is a quasi self-preserving form. The calculation also demonstrates that coagulation alone leads to dynamic equilibrium for large particle size without the need of additional physical processes such as particle sedimentation. The relevance of the calculations to real aerosols was tested by measuring the size distribution of smoke generated from smoldering "punk" and flaming alpha-cellulose. The size distributions of both smoke aerosols are not only self-preserving but also are very similar. there is quantitative agreement between the measured size distributions and the calculated quasi self-preserving form.
Proceedings Title
U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Panel on Fire Research and Safety. Volume 6. Fire Detection
Conference Dates
October 19-22, 1976
Conference Location
Tokyo,
Conference Title
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol. 62, No. 3, 406-420

Keywords

fire detection, fire research, fire safety, size distributions, aerosols, coagulation, particle size, smoke, smoldering

Citation

Mulholland, G. , Baum, H. and Lee, T. (1976), Coagulation of Aerosols With Broad Initial Size Distributions., U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Panel on Fire Research and Safety. Volume 6. Fire Detection, Tokyo, , [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=916916 (Accessed April 19, 2024)
Created October 19, 1976, Updated February 17, 2017