| Abstract: | Wall loss rates of polydispersed aerosols in a stirred vessel were studied theoretically and experimentally. A formula for the poly- dispersity factor of the wall loss rate was derived using the moment method of log-normal size distribution and compared with numerical calculations. The representative theory of Crump and Seinfeld (1981) was used as the wall loss rate of monodispersed aerosols in which the Brownian diffusion, the turbulent eddy diffusion, and the gravitational settling are included as wall loss mechanisms. The results of the analysis show that the wall loss rate of a polydispersed aerosol is substantially higher than that based on a monodispersed size distribution model if the particle size distribution can be represented reasonably well by a log-normal function. The existing diagram showing the loss rate as a function only of the particle size was expanded to include the polydispersity effects. Experimental measurements of particle wall loss rate were performed by observing the time-dependent changes in particle number concentration for various stirring intensities in a cylindrical stirred chamber. It was shown that by correcting for the polydispersity effect, the dependence of the wall loss rate on particle size and stirring intensity agreed with the theory of Crump and Seinfeld (1981). |
