Estimating the number-weighted equivalents of the mass-weighted size distribution functions.

The number-weighted particle size distributions are difficult to be estimated experimentally. This study offers a simple conversion method to convert mass-weighted distributions to their number-weighted equivalents. Besides, the number-weighted equivalents of the Gates-Gaudin-Schuhmann, Gaudin-Meloy, Pareto, and Rosin-Rammler distributions were determined by the conversion method. The accuracy of the method was successfully confirmed on the artificial populations generated from the Gates-Gaudin-Schuhmann, Rosin-Rammler (Weibull), and Pareto distributions. However, the number-weighted equivalent of the Gaudin-Meloy distribution was found to be trivial. The results also indicate that the conversion method may be applied to a wide range of sieve size distributions that are truncated with upper and lower bounds. Unlabelled Image • A method to estimate number-weighted size distributions from sieve analyses. • The method assumes constant density and shape factor for all particles. • The method was successful on artificial populations of the common distributions. • The method may be widely applied to the truncated sieve size distributions. • The number-weighted equivalent of the Gaudin-Meloy distribution is trivial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]