Particle and droplet size analysis from chord measurements using Bayes' theorem

A method of predicting sphere diameter distributions from chord size data i s presented and evaluated. This is the probability apportioning method (PAM 2) and is significantly improved on a previous presentation. It assumes tha t the particles or droplets are near spherical and cut randomly by a sensor . For an assumed particle diameter distribution, Bayes' theorem is used to calculate hit probabilities for each particle diameter. The diameter distri bution is then recalculated and the process is repeated until there is no s ignificant further change. Using numerical simulations, PAM2 is shown to be quite accurate and robust for a number of different types of size distribu tion. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.