Comparison of the Transport Models of a Laminar Flow Diffusion Chamber

The aim of this work is to show how the complexity of the modeling of the transport processes affects the results of the nucleation experiments in the Laminar Flow Diffusion Chamber (LFDC). For this purpose, data measured by Hyvarinen et al. [1] were recalculated using models at different levels of complexity. We focused on the influence of hydrodynamics (Navier-Stokes equations or parabolic profile assumption) and coupled terms (Dufour effect and thermodiffusion) on the results. We found that the choice of hydrodynamic model affects both the position of nucleation maxima in the LFDC and the maximum of the nucleation rate. On the other hand, the presence of coupled terms in the model significantly affects only the peak value of the nucleation rate. In order to compare the results obtained by different models, we present a method quantifying relative uncertainty in the determination of the nucleation rate. The prediction of each model was compared to the full model with the Navier-Stokes equations and both coupled terms. The comparison shows that an inappropriate choice of model could lead to serious deviations that may reach several hundred percent in a given case.