Design Optimization of a Spray Chamber for Plasma Spectrometry using Computational Fluid Dynamics and an Evolution Strategy

Spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasmas is a widespread method in analytical chemistry for the determination of trace elements in various materials. The samples to be investigated are transferred into solutions. A nebulizer then generates an aerosol of fine droplets. The aerosol has to be conditioned in a spray chamber before it can be introduced into the plasma. All spray chambers used today have been developed empirically. In this work for the first time ever, a spray chamber has been optimized with the aid of computational fluid dynamics in combination with an evolutionary strategy.