Research on the single scattering albedo of spheroids

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the light scattering of nonspherical particles that is very important for the research on the aerosol optical properties.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors use the spheroid model as the characteristic particle shape to study the single scattering albedo of real nonspherical particles. Meanwhile, the extinction and scattering cross section of spheroids are calculated with the T matrix method combined with the improved geometric optics approximation method (IGOM).

Findings

Through this combination, the extinction and scattering cross section of spheroids can be obtained in the larger size range and aspect ratio range. Furthermore, the comparison of the single scattering albedo for the spheroids and their equivalent spheres is conducted in order to investigate the difference of the spherical and nonspherical particles.

Originality/value

Simulation experiments indicate that the single scattering albedo of spheroids can be calculated well with this combination, and it has some obvious influence on the variation of the aspect ratio, incident wavelength, and complex refractive index of spheroid particles.

Citation

Tang, H. and Li, X.-X. (2014), "Research on the single scattering albedo of spheroids", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 1762-1768. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-04-2013-0105