DYNAMICAL-SYSTEMS APPROACH TO PARTICLE-TRANSPORT MODELING IN DILUTE GAS-PARTICLE FLOWS WITH APPLICATION TO A CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION REACTOR

A general method for treating the transport of particles in dilute gas -particle flows is presented. This method formulates the particle tran sport equations as a dynamical system and utilizes the corresponding t heory to analyze the resulting dynamics. As an illustration of this te chnique, the transport of contaminant particles in a barrel-type chemi cal vapor deposition reactor is analyzed. The background gas flow fiel d is determined via a numerical simulation of the Navier-Stokes equati ons. The analysis reveals the presence of particle attractors in the h ow which are particle size specific. The features of these attractors are discussed, as is their behavior with varying particle size. (C) 19 97 American Association for Aerosol Research.