Influence of soot aggregate structure on particle sizing using laser-induced incandescence: importance of bridging between primary particles

Soot aggregates formed in combustion processes are often described as clusters of carbonaceous particles in random fractal structures. For theoretical studies of the physical properties of such aggregates, they have often been modelled as spherical primary particles in point contact. However, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show that the primary particles are more connected than in a single point; there is a certain amount of bridging between the primary particles. Particle sizing using the diagnostic technique laser-induced incandescence (LII) is crucially dependent on the heat conduction rate from the aggregate to the ambient gas, which depends on the amount of bridging. In this work, aggregates with bridging are modelled using overlapping spheres, and it is shown how such aggregates can be built to fulfil specific fractal parameters. Aggregates with and without bridging are constructed numerically, and it is investigated how the bridging influences the heat conduction rate in the free-molecular regime. The calculated heat conduction rates are then used in an LII model to show how LII particle sizing is influenced by different amounts of bridging. For realistic amounts of bridging (), the primary particle diameters were overestimated by up to 9 % if bridging was not taken into account.