title: Turbulent inertial gelation and acoustic quasi-gelation of submicron aerosol particles.
abstract: Inertial turbulent and acoustic orthokinetic particle coagulation mechanisms have physical similarity. We consider analytically and numerically coagulation of discrete compact and fractal submicron agglomerated particles, governed by these mechanisms via Smoluchowski equation. Existence of the inertial turbulent coagulation is mathematically proven. A new gelation scenario is revealed for both of the above coagulation mechanisms. Turbulent inertial gelation is manifested by means of a multi-modal relay-type run-away particle size growth, including formation of infinite set of secondary maxima in volume fraction distribution. When acoustic coagulation mechanism is much stronger than the Brownian coagulation, acoustic coagulation occurs as a quasi-gelation process, with a run-away particle size growth, characterized, however, by a finite set of secondary maxima. The effect of acoustic field on coagulation is shown to be more pronounced for fractal agglomerates than that for compact agglomerated particles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Transport Processes in Porous Media, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. merpeva@tx.technion.ac.il
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vainshtein
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shapiro