Aerosol agglomeration in high-intensity acoustic fields

The acoustic agglomeration kernels in various regimes have been evaluated for various parameters, namely, aerosol concentration, median diameter, standard deviation, acoustic intensity, acoustic frequency, ambient temperature, and pressure. It is found that with the existence of the acoustically induced turbulence, turbulent inertial interaction is the dominant process for agglomeration of aerosol. A computer code has been developed to furnish a comparison of relative importance of the principal agglomeration mechanisms at different acoustic intensities and particulate emission mass loadings. Finally, an experimental investigation has been performed to verify the theory of aerosol deposition and agglomeration in high-intensity acoustic fields. Using a laboratory-scale transmissometer for the continuous light-opacity measurements, separate experimental runs have been directed to investigate the effects of acoustic intensity I, frequency f, and massloading M. In the operating range of I = 160-164 db, f = 500-2200 Hz, and M = 10-30 g/m³, the experimental data show a fairly good agreement with the theoretical results. It is also revealed that, under the same operating conditions, the standing-wave operation is more effective than the traveling-wave operation.