EVOLUTION OF NUMBER CONCENTRATION OF NANO- PARTICLES UNDERGOING BROWNIAN COAGULATION IN THE TRANSITION REGIME

Evolution of number concentration of nanoparticles undergoing Brownian coagulation in the transition regime is studied theoretically and numerically. The results show that the curves of particle size distribution move toward the area with large particle diameters, the curve peak becomes lower and the range that particle diameters cover becomes wider as time elapses. In the process of coagulation the particles with small diameter disappear gradually and the particle size distribution remains a log-normal distribution. The change rate of the particle size distribution is more appreciable at the initial stage than that at the final stage. The initial Knudsen number has a significant effect on the coagulation rate which increases with decreasing the initial Knudsen number. The larger the initial geometric standard deviation is, the smaller the curve peak is, and the wider the area that curves cover is. The initial geometric standard deviation has a significant effect on the particle size distribution which can remain a self-preserving state when the initial geometric standard deviation is smaller than 2. With the increase of the diversity of initial particle size, the particle size distribution does not obey the log-normal distribution any more as time elapses.