Course Description
The tools required to analyze aerosol systems both as pollutants and vehicles for drug delivery. We start with fundamental aerosol concepts (size statistics, motion, thermodynamics, gas-particle interactions, coagulation, optical properties), and then use these concepts to investigate topical applications (pollution formation and control, aerosol-climate interactions, pharmaceutical aerosols).
Athena Title
Aerosol Science and Engr
Non-Traditional Format
Students will be required to finish a term project and a term paper.
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students will have: • learned how to apply fundamental engineering concepts (dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat/mass transfer) to analyze aerosol systems by employing the necessary length-scale related modifications; • gained an appreciation of the complexity of the coupled physical-chemical phenomena that govern aerosol dynamics and learned how to apply computational methods to resolve these phenomena; • understood the pathways for aerosol formation and their impact on air quality and the climate; • learned how aerosols interact with the respiratory tract and how this knowledge can be used to understand the health effects of toxic aerosols as well as to engineer aerosols for drug delivery.
Topical Outline
Examples of topics that will be covered in this course include (in approximate order): • The world of aerosols: length-scale transitioning between the molecular and continuum regimes • Aerosol counting statistics and the moments of size distributions • Brownian diffusion and motion in gravitational and electric fields • Coagulation • Volatility, gas-to-particle conversion, and size change by evaporation/condensation • Filtration • Aerosol measurement techniques • Aerosol formation in combustion • Atmospheric aerosols • Optical properties and aerosol interactions with solar radiation • Thermodynamics of cloud formation • Fluid mechanics and particle deposition in the respiratory tract • Drug delivery by nebulizers and inhalers