A novel approach to resuspend particles of controlled morphologies in a 3D printed wind tunnel

Particle resuspension is an omnipresent source of aerosols into the environment as thenecessary detachment force to return particles to the atmosphere can arise from a varietyof environmental and anthropogenic mechanisms. Despite the significance of resuspension,the phenomenon is often neglected in aerosol dispersion models as there is limited under-standing on the magnitude of the effect and its influencing factors. We provide a routetoward determining the role of particle-specific characteristics, such as morphology, onresuspension efficiency with the aim of introducing greater complexity to resuspensionmodels. A combination of two unique instruments is introduced, a quadrupole electro-dynamic trap to fabricate particles and a small-scale 3D printed wind tunnel. Together theyprovide a method for manufacturing and resuspending particles of a reproducible sphericaland non-spherical shape without the need for large or costly equipment. Experiments resus-pending spherical glass standards and raspberry-shaped dried sodium chloride particles,alongside anemometer flow field analysis, were implemented to validate the approach andprovide insight into potential limitations, including the necessity to increase non-sphericalparticle resuspension rates to evaluate the impacts of morphology in the future. This pro-vides the foundation for future experiments with increasing deviations from idealized condi-tions and prospective step-wise resuspension model developments.