Polydisperse aerosol condensation with heat and mass conservation: I. Model description with applications to homogeneous systems

A computational solution of the coupled heat and mass transport equations for aerosols, which may be either single component or multicomponent, in a finite volume is developed under nonsteady state and nonisothermal conditions. It is capable of computing the temperature and vapor density profile around the droplets. Both mass and heat are conserved effectively in the volume, which enables this computational model to describe time-dependent, competitive, aerosol condensation and evaporation. Calculations for pure water particles and sodium nitrate particles in the presence of water vapor are performed. By comparing the particle growth for different number densities at various initial supersaturation conditions, both the initial saturations and particle number concentrations are shown to have great impact on the aerosol condensational growth. Detailed discussions on the change of bulk temperature, bulk relative humidity (RH), total surface area and volume are given.