Assessment of the Efficiency vs Particle Size for Three Airborne Aerosol Sampling Probes. Computational Simulations

This work aims to evaluate the efficiency of 3 sampling probes for aerosol measurements with an optical aerosol counter integrated in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Consequently, a linear numerical software that performs a systemic analysis of its performance for different design characteristic values was developed. The software estimates the sampling efficiency of particulate matter as a function of the aerodynamic diameters within the measurement system inlet, by considering losses due to transport phenomena to the aerosol counter. The results show the relevance of evaluating the performance in different flight conditions for decision-making in the design phase. The design assessment indicates that the best performance could be achieved with a short straight pipe sampling probe, which minimizes losses in a wide range of particle sizes.