The evolution of a soot aerosol in a counterflow diffusion flame

The dynamics of a soot aerosol in a stagnation point diffusion flame have been simulated numerically. The impact of the flow velocity gradient on soot loading which was observed experimentally was found to arise simply from variations in aerosol residence times; the computed effect was consistent with constant particle formation and growth rates. The aerosol size distribution adopted a self-preserving form following the particle inception stage in spite of intense gas to solid conversion by surface growth; the inclusion of a retarded van der Waals interaction did not give rise to significant differences in the moments of the size distribution.