Infrared Extinction of Artificial Aerosols and the Effects of Size Distributions

The artificial aerosol is widely used in the modern battlefield to protect potential targets and to conceal movement of personnel and materiel. In this paper we investigated into the infrared extinction characteristics of the aerosol. The emphasis was placed upon the effects of the particle size distribution in an attempt to achieve optimal design. The particulates were assumed spherical in shape and Mie's theory is employed in the calculation of their extinction cross sections. Both spectral and average extinction coefficients per unit mass were computed for a certain kind of agent with the grain size distribution function being lognormal, which is considered suitable for artificial particles. Parametric studies are performed to examine the influence of the mean η and the standard deviation σ. This study will afford indications for the optimal design of infrared obscurants.