Dust particle velocity measurement

A laser Doppler velocimeter was used to measure the velocity distributions for particles entering a vacuum chamber from the atmosphere through calibrated leaks. The relative number of particles per velocity interval was obtained for particulates of three size distributions and two densities passing through six different leak geometries. The velocity range 15 to 320 meters per second was investigated. Peak particle velocities were found to occur in the 15 to 150 meters per second range depending upon type of particle and leak geometry. A small fraction of the particles were found to have velocities in the 150 to 320 meters per second range.