Modeling of Generation and Growth of Non-Spherical Nanoparticles in a Co-Flow Flame

Generation and growth of polydisperse non-spherical silica nanoparticles in an oxy-hydrogen co-flow diffusion flame have been simulated for the first time. A complete set of Navier–Stokes equations describing multi-component chemically-reacting fluid flows was first solved considering the detailed H2/O2 chemistry and oxidation/hydrolysis reactions of SiCl4. A recently developed aggregate sectional model (Jeong & Choi, 2001) was employed to solve the dynamics of particles undergoing generation, convection, diffusion, coagulation and coalescence in a spatially two-dimensional flame system. Non-uniform spatial distributions of flame temperatures and non-spherical particle sizes were successfully simulated. Comparison on flame temperature and particle size between the numerical simulation and the experimental data has also been done. Performance of a simple monodisperse model was also studied by comparing with the detailed sectional model.