Kinetic model for competitive condensation of vapor between concave and convex surfaces in a soot aggregate

Atmospheric soot is an air pollutant and a climate forcer. Its environmental impacts are altered when fractal soot particles change their composition and morphology during atmospheric processing by coagulation, surface oxidation, and vapor condensation. Previously, we have shown that supersaturated vapor condensation can produce two different coating distributions on soot aggregates and developed a qualitative analytical model to predict the condensation outcome based on a single dimensionless parameter χ. In this study, we refine our model by introducing rigorous treatments of the condensate surface curvature and condensation rate. The model is solved numerically to evaluate the distribution of condensate on soot aggregates composed of monodisperse spheres that can be further used to predict their morphology. Hence, this study serves as a step toward developing of a multiphysics model for restructuring soot aggregates.