3D SPH simulations of grain growth in protoplanetary disks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel 3D SPH simulation method for modeling grain growth in protoplanetary disks, validating it against analytical models and exploring implications for planetesimal formation.

Contribution

It presents the first implementation of a grain growth scheme in a 3D two-fluid SPH code for protoplanetary disks, enabling more realistic simulations.

Findings

Results agree with turbulent grain growth models

Method validation against analytical solutions

Implications for planetesimal formation processes

Abstract

We present the first results of the treatment of grain growth in our 3D, two-fluid (gas+dust) SPH code describing protoplanetary disks. We implement a scheme able to reproduce the variation of grain sizes caused by a variety of physical processes and test it with the analytical expression of grain growth given by Stepinski & Valageas (1997) in simulations of a typical T Tauri disk around a one solar mass star. The results are in agreement with a turbulent growing process and validate the method. We are now able to simulate the grain growth process in a protoplanetary disk given by a more realistic physical description, currently under development. We discuss the implications of the combined effect of grain growth and dust vertical settling and radial migration on subsequent planetesimal formation.