Particle Modeling of Transport of α-Ray Generated Ion Clusters in Air

Abstract

A particle model is developed using the test-particle Monte Carlo method to study the transport properties of α-ray generated ion clusters in a flow of air. An efficient ion–molecule collision model is proposed to simulate the collisions between ion and air molecule. The simulations are performed for a steady state of ion transport in a circular pipe. In the steady state, generation of ions is balanced with such losses of ions as absorption on the measuring sensor or pipe wall and disappearance by positive–negative ion recombination. The calculated ion current to the measuring sensor agrees well with the previous measured data.