Emission of ions and charged soot particles by aircraft engines

Abstract
In this article, a model which examines the formation and evolution of chemiions in an aircraft engine is proposed. This model which includes chemiionisation, electron thermo-emission, electron attachment to soot particles and to neutral molecules, electron-ion and ion-ion recombination, ion-soot interaction, allows the determination of the ion concentration at the exit of the combustor and at the nozzle exit of the engine. It also allows the determination of the charge of the soot particles. A comparison of the model results with the available ground-based experimental data obtained on the ATTAS research aircraft engines during the SULFUR experiments (Schumann, 2002) shows an excellent agreement.