Publications

Nanoparticle aerosols form Knudsen layers at walls

Torczynski, J.R.; Gallis, Michail A.; Rader, Daniel J.

An aerosol of nanoparticles forms a Knudsen layer when diffusing in a Brownian fashion toward a solid wall. More specifically, the particle number density in the gas by the wall approaches a nonzero value proportional to the flux. An approximate theory for the coefficient of proportionality as a function of the particle sticking probability at the wall and the drift velocity normal to the wall is compared to Langevin particle simulations. The results are used to formulate a boundary condition that enables accurate advection-diffusion simulations of nanoparticle-aerosol transport. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.