EVALUATION OF METHOD:
1. Bias: In respirable dust measurements, the bias in a sample is calculated relative to the appropriate
respirable dust convention. The theory for calculating bias was developed by Bartley and Breuer [10].
For this method, the bias, therefore, depends on the international convention for respirable dust, the
cyclones' penetration curves, and the size distribution of the ambient dust. Based on measured
penetration curves for non-pulsating flow [1], the bias in this method is shown in Figure 1.
For dust size distributions in the shaded region, the bias in this method lies within the ± 0.10 criterion
established by NIOSH for method validation. Bias larger than ± 0.10 would, therefore, be expected for
some workplace aerosols. However, bias within ± 0.20 would be expected for dusts with geometric
standard deviations greater than 2.0, which is the case in most workplaces.
Bias can also be caused in a cyclone by the pulsation of the personal sampling pump. Bartley, et al. [12]
showed that cyclone samples with pulsating flow can have negative bias as large as 0.22 relative to
samples with steady flow. The magnitude of the bias depends on the amplitude of the pulsation at the
cyclone aperture and the dust size distribution. For pumps with instantaneous flow rates within 20% of
the mean, the pulsation bias magnitude is less than 0.02 for most dust size distributions encountered
in the workplace.
Electric charges on the dust and the cyclone will also cause bias. Briant and Moss [13] have found