Influence of strain-rate on coagulation kinetics

Timothy A. Kramer*, Mark M. Clark

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

The nature of hydrodynamically induced particle collisions in orthokinetic coagulation is examined. For a discrete region of fluid that is exposed to linear velocity-gradients the frequency of collisions between particles is shown to be a function of the strain rates acting on the volume element of fluid containing the particles. Through transformation of the strain-rate tensor by diagonalization into principal components, a new scalar value is obtained that accurately estimates the total collision rate. This value, the absolute maximum principal strain-rate, is used in conjuction with a new collision-frequency function derived for the normal strain rates to yield an accurate relation for orthokinetic coagulation. The new method is contrasted with estimates of a global average velocity-gradient based on energy dissipation and power input to the fluid system. It is also shown that the square root of the dissipation function is not directly proportional to the velocity-gradient and that a global average of the energy dissipation function does not represent a mean-square velocity-gradient.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number12175
Pages (from-to)444-452
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Environmental Engineering
Volume123
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1997

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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