Radial Basis Function Method for Predicting the Evolution of Aerosol Size Distributions for Coagulation Problems

The dynamic evolution of particle size distributions (PSDs) during coagulation is of great importance in many atmospheric and engineering applications. To date, various numerical methods have been developed for solving the general dynamic equation under different scenarios. In this study, a radial b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere 2022-11, Vol.13 (11), p.1895
Main Authors: Wang, Kaiyuan, Hu, Run, Xiong, Yuming, Xie, Fei, Yu, Suyuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Aerosols
Approximation
Atmospheric aerosols
Coagulation
Computer applications
Differential equations
Distribution
Distribution (Probability theory)
Distribution functions
Environmental aspects
Evolution
Exact solutions
Integrals
Mathematical models
Methods
Normal distribution
Numerical analysis
Numerical methods
Ordinary differential equations
Partial differential equations
Particle size
Particle size distribution
population balance
Quadratures
Radial basis function
radial basis function method
Scavenging
Size distribution
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Summary:The dynamic evolution of particle size distributions (PSDs) during coagulation is of great importance in many atmospheric and engineering applications. To date, various numerical methods have been developed for solving the general dynamic equation under different scenarios. In this study, a radial basis function (RBF) method was proposed to solve particle coagulation evolution. This method uses a Gaussian function as the basis function to approximate the size distribution function. The original governing equation was then converted to ordinary differential equations (ODEs), along with numerical quadratures. The RBF method was compared with the analytical solutions and sectional method to validate its accuracy. The comparison results showed that the RBF method provided almost accurate predictions of the PSDs for different coagulation kernels. This method was also verified to be reliable in predicting the self-preserving distributions reached over long periods and for describing the temporal evolution of moments. For multimodal coagulation, the RBF method also accurately predicted the temporal evolution of a bimodal distribution owing to scavenging effects. Moreover, the computational times of the RBF method for these cases were usually of the order of seconds. Thus, the RBF method is verified as a reliable and efficient tool for predicting PSD evolution during coagulation.
ISSN:2073-4433
2073-4433
DOI:10.3390/atmos13111895