A new expression for spherical aerosol drag in slip flow regime

A 3D simulation study for an incompressible slip flow around a spherical aerosol particle was performed. The full Navier-Stokes equations were solved and the velocity jump at the gas-particle interface was treated numerically by imposition of the slip boundary condition. Analytical solution to the Stokesian slip flow past a spherical particle was used as a benchmark for code verification, and excellent agreement was achieved. The simulation results showed that in addition to the Knudsen number, the Reynolds number affects the slip correction factor. Thus, the Cunningham-based slip corrections must be augmented by the inclusion of the effect of Reynolds number for application to Lagrangian tracking of fine particles. A new expression for the slip correction factor as a function of both Knudsen number and Reynolds number was developed. The particle total drag coefficient was also correlated against Re and Kn over the range of gas-particle relative speeds yielding the incompressible slip flow from the Stokesian regime up to the threshold of compressibility. Inclusion of gas slip on the particle surface enhances the accuracy of particle drag force prediction up to 40.9% in the range of 0.01 < Kn < 0.1 and 0.125 < Re < 20 compared to the no-slip continuum drag values. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.