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Calculating The Sampling Cone Gas Flow In An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer

Student Name: Wilcox, Daniel
Advisor Name: Spencer, Ross L.
Approval Date: 4/1/2009
Report Type: Senior Thesis
Title: Calculating The Sampling Cone Gas Flow In An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer
Abstract: Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers contain a sampling cone which accelerates an atmospheric-pressure gas to supersonic speeds. Calculating the flow properties as the gas passes through the cone is challenging because of the difficulty in specifying upstream boundary conditions and because the gas exhibits non-ideal effects as it passes through the cone. To calculate the flow, the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo algorithm was used on the BYU supercomputing cluster using about 200 processors and 600 million simulation particles with a three-week calculation time. Carefully crafted velocity and temperature boundary conditions were necessary. Evidence is presented that the calculated flowfield is a good solution to the problem.
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