Fractal analysis of aerosol particles

Abstract

Fractal analysis has been successfully applied in a variety of disciplines. The advance of aerosol science has often necessitated the simplified treatment of aerosols as comprising spherical particles. Even rather simple non-spherical shapes such as ellipsoids, chains or fibres have not been easy to work with, either in theoretical treatments, or in the laboratory. Many workers have found it convenient to work with what is defined as the boundary fractal of the agglomerate, obtained from the two-dimensional projection of the structure. Others have studied the internal structure of agglomerates and obtained the mass or density fractal dimension. The boundary fractal dimension is generally less then the density fractal dimension as information is lost in the two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional object as well as in sample preparation. In situ methods overcome these difficulties.