Scavenging Efficiency of Electrostatically Charged Thin Ice Plates and Spherical Aerosol Particles

Abstract

Scavenging of 2 or 4 g cm?3 spherical aerosol particles by thin ice plates, idealized as oblate spheroids of axis ratio 0.05, was numerically modeled for atmospheric conditions of ?18°C and 400 mb. Ice crystal semi-major axis lengths of 103 to 366 ?m were investigated. The model included hydrodynamic, gravitational and electrostatic (coulombic) forces. The results indicate that theory for electrostatic deposition from an airstream may be applied to thin ice crystal collectors with reasonable accuracy for aerosol particles ?5 ?m radius when considering attractively charged bodies in a thunderstorm environment.