Joint experimental and numerical study of silica particulate synthesis in a turbulent reacting jet

Abstract This paper presents results from a joint experimental and numerical study of silica particulate synthesis for a turbulent reacting jet configuration where a cold jet doped with silane issues into a hot vitiated coflow. The experimental investigation involves simultaneous measurements of elastic light scattering and planar laser-induced fluorescence signals and these are used for validation of a novel computational approach, called PBE-MMC-LES, for the solution of the joint scalar probability density function of the gas phase species and the discretised particulate size distribution. Model validation follows the “paradigm shift” approach which is based on the computation of “predicted signals” which are compared directly with the experimentally-acquired signals. The results demonstrate that PBE-MMC-LES can model particulate inception, surface growth and agglomeration at reasonable computational cost. The agreement between the measured and computed signals is good in the light of the modelling complexities associated with particle flame synthesis, but predictions are rather sensitive to the uncertainties in precursor chemistry leading to nucleation and growth.