Solutions of the shear-induced coalescence equations for polydisperse emulsion droplets using Monte Carlo and moments techniques

Shear-induced coalescence of emulsion droplets is simulated by a Monte Carlo method, based on generating a droplet from a given droplet size distribution and a second droplet from the corresponding frequency distribution. The orthokinetic coalescence efficiency coefficient is assumed to be a function of the radius ratio of the colliding droplets. The theory also applies approximately to the irreversible coagulation of solid particles. The moments method, an alternative method to solve Smoluchowski's equation, was modified to allow for a radius dependence of the coalescence efficiency. Comparison between the results of both methods yielded excellent agreement. A tremendous saving on computation time was achieved with the moments method. The self-preserving form hypothesis was tested. It was found that the size distribution of the emulsions that were examined was self-preserved.