Aircraft Interstitial Aerosol Inlet: Design, simulation, and Wind Tunnel Testing

What is it about?

The design of a new aerosol sampler, called the blunt-body aerosol sampler (BASE), to sample interstitial particles inside clouds while avoiding the problem of cloud droplet shatter artifacts is introduced. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to optimize the shape of the blunt body, and the final sampler design is predicted to sample particles smaller than 2 micron from the freestream while being uninfluenced by cloud droplet shatter particles of the same size.

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Why is it important?

This inlet provides an unprecedented opportunity for sampling interstitial (non-activated) particles inside clouds. Aerosol sample from this inlet can be very informative for climate change and aerosol-cloud closure studies.