A stochastically weighted operator splitting Monte Carlo (SWOSMC) method for the numerical simulation of complex aerosol dynamic processes
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 3 January 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the complex aerosol dynamic processes by using this newly developed stochastically weighted operator splitting Monte Carlo (SWOSMC) method.
Design/methodology/approach
Stochastically weighted particle method and operator splitting method are coupled to formulate the SWOSMC method for the numerical simulation of particle-fluid systems undergoing the complex simultaneous processes.
Findings
This SWOSMC method is first validated by comparing its numerical simulation results of constant rate coagulation and linear rate condensation with the corresponding analytical solutions. Coagulation and nucleation cases are further studied whose results are compared with the sectional method in excellent agreement. This SWOSMC method has also demonstrated its high numerical simulation capability when used to deal with simultaneous aerosol dynamic processes including coagulation, nucleation and condensation.
Originality/value
There always exists conflict and tradeoffs between computational cost and accuracy for Monte Carlo-based methods for the numerical simulation of aerosol dynamics. The operator splitting method has been widely used in solving complex partial differential equations, while the stochastic-weighted particle method has been commonly used in numerical simulation of aerosol dynamics. However, the integration of these two methods has not been well investigated.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The first author, Shuyuan Liu is grateful to Professor Kun Zhou, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, China, who kindly shared his developed source codes of the Operator Splitting Monte Carlo (OSMC) method in Zhou et al. (2014) to further develop this new SWOSMC method for the present study. This work was supported by the Central Research Grants and the research studentship of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Last but not least, the authors also greatly appreciate The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 11572274) for allowing the further study of aerosol dynamics.
Citation
Liu, S. and Chan, T.L. (2017), "A stochastically weighted operator splitting Monte Carlo (SWOSMC) method for the numerical simulation of complex aerosol dynamic processes", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 263-278. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-08-2015-0335
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited